|
American Gangster
American Gangster
Directed by
Ridley Scott
Drug dealers don't make particularly good heroes, but Frank Lucas is
different. If you don't particularly mind his profession, if it were
not for the fact that he was a friggen' drug dealer, this fellow was
a perfect role model for capitalism. He worked hard, he lived clean,
had original ideas, getting the best product he could for his
clientele, through new and unheard of channels. Not only that he
loved his mother. Had this been a legal product he was selling, he
would have been Ebony's “Man of the Year” ten times over, a role
model for all, not just African American youth.
But, his product was heroin, and since mobsters are the stuff of
legend, an epic about him was long overdue.
We first meet Lucas(Denzel Washington) in Harlem in the late 1960s,
the driver and major domo for legendary mobster Ellsworth "Bumpy"
Johnson(Clarence Williams III), who had controlled the rackets in
Harlem since the roaring '20s. When he dies of old age, there's a
power struggle, and it looks like our protagonist might have a
losing hand, but then he notes that an ex in-law, who's running some
black market scams over in Vietnam and Thailand, has some
connections to the actual manufacturers of heroin, something that is
expensive and cut down in the states. So…
He goes down to Cambodia, in the middle of a war zone, meets with
the Chinese General(Ric Young) and strikes a deal. Corruption in the
military gives Lucas a method to ship the stuff to the 'States, and
soon, he can buy his mother(Ruby Dee) a large mansion and get his
brothers and nephews(Chiwetel Ejiofor, Common, Tip Harris and some
others) lucrative work in the family business. Even his main
competitor Nicky Barnes(Cuba Gooding Jr.) has to get with the
program and the usually racist mafia, notably boss Dominic
Cattano(Armand Assante), treat him with respect and offer to help
him go nationwide with the business. With marriage to a former Miss
Puerto Rico(Lymari Nadal), his rise was complete.
But this is only half an epic, for director Ridley Scott and writer
Steven Zaillian need a hero to counterbalance Lucas' brilliant
success. Richie Roberts(Russell Crowe) is a schlubbie detective
working in Newark, NJ, and when he's introduced, he and his partner
Javier Rivera(John Ortiz) make a legendary mistake. They do the
right thing and turn in a million bucks which was earmarked to pay
off most of the detectives in the department. His career goes down
the toilet as he's snubbed by his “comrades” and his wife(Carla
Gugino) leaves him, to make matters worse, Ortiz becomes a drug
addict himself.
But his honesty prevails and Richie is given the job of a lifetime:
head of the FBI's drug squad's New Jersey affiliate. The rest of the
film is about how Richie fights not only the drug lords, but the
corrupt cops in New York and even the US Army at one point.
This movie has it all, excellent cast, script and crew. Sure, it's
about three hours long, but the story is compelling, and the
filmmakers don't take a single misstep. There's even a happy ending
of sorts.
Even if you didn't like his comedy about winemaking from last year,
this is Scott back in his top form and is worth an afternoon indoors
as the weather starts getting cold out.
Go
to List of New Reviews
Go to Index Archives of
past reviews
|