Ridley Scott in new territory

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2008)

American Gangster is a very good, enjoyable film, a great addition to the gangster movie genre. The film starts as Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a major gangster in New York in the 1970s, and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), as the police detective who investigates Lucas' Empire. The film shows how Lucas rise to power, importing heroin from Thailand, using the coffins of soldiers who died in Vietnam. He is shown to have a decent life, respected in his community, rich and occasionally has to commit acts of violence. He is smart, well-read, a good businessman and loyal to his family. His brothers became his lieutenants, he loved his mum. He befriends celebrities but he is not flash does not draw attention to himself. Roberts on the other hands is an honest cop, working in New Jersey and struggling in his life. He is given the opportunity to head a special unit to invest drugs in New York. He is the opposite to Lucas; a poor dresser, has a poor relationship with his family and not particularly well off.
Lucas is a sympathetic character, and runs a good operation. Roberts is a fault character but he is trying his best; he was working hard to clear up the police force. They are issues tackled in the film such as drug use, police corruption, race and the American Dream. It also has a fun little in joke that it takes a cop from New Jersey to sort out New York.
Ridley Scott shows that he is a master of film-making. He has shown that he can make sci-fi, historical epic, war and now gangster and police film and I hope his next films are just as good.