Film Bites

Frank Lucas(Washington) is a self-made drug lord in Harlem, New York in the 1970’s. He surpasses his predecessor and becomes known as an intelligent, tough and suave gangster boss. Building on the business practices of more (legally) viable businesses, he realizes the profitable future in drug trade when cutting out the middle-men. He travels directly to Vietnam and imports high-quality heroine while selling it on the street for half the price.

Quickly, his success lands him in the sights of the newly formed police division sworn to battle in the war on drugs. This elite team of cops is led by Richie Roberts(Crowe), a good cop with a reputation for turning in a million dollars of free money. Other cops aren’t so clean and shiny. Detective Trupo(Brolin) is a crooked cop on the take, looking to make something off Frank Lucas’ good business practices.

What is there to say about a film that doesn’t really live up to the hype? For close to two months now, I’ve seen previews for American Gangster before at least one movie a week. The previews looked really good. Other sites built up the hype, believing this was the next Oscar worthy film. While I don’t think the film was bad, on the contrary it was good, it just wasn’t great. It was worth the $5 to go see it, but didn’t leave me with much else after I left the theater.

Ridley Scott is a wonderful director. Blade Runner and Alien were his best two films. American Gangster wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have the ‘wow’ of a Gladiator or Black Hawk Down. But I guess, it takes a few mediocre movies to make the good ones seem really good, so I won’t hold it against him.