Like trying to squeeze five (5) pounds of beautiful fresh tomatoes into a tiny ten (10) ounce can

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2020)

A lengthier (2 hrs & 37 min) than normal crime based film that tried to encapsulate more than could easily be described on the large screen. The cinematography and music score were excellent and the actors were also top notch. But this film was like trying to squeeze two pounds of fresh tomatoes into a ten (10) ounce can, it got messy with a lot of true life crime and good story line laying on the cutting room floor.
Superior actors such as Denzel Washington who played the real life shrewd and nasty drug lord Frank Lucas who maintained a cocaine drug stronghold during the late 1960's and early 1970's and the (then) honest detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) who eventually arrested Lucas and took away all of his wealth through the court of law were played masterfully.
I was merely disappointed in how the producers attempted to package so much criminal historical value into a mere 157 minutes of screen time. The story line would have been much better served if produced as a ten (10) part TV mini series. I give this film version of the life and times of real life drug lord Frank Lucas a decent enough IMDB rating of 7 out of 10.