Washington plays the bad guy so good

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2012)

With Denzel Washington's performance in American Gangster and also in Training Day and the upcoming Safe House his best performances are when he go the bad guy route. He's really good as the good guy like he's in Remember the Titans, Inside Man, Unstoppable and so on. But he really comes alive when he goes to the other side of the aisle.
Russell Crowe is also very good in this movie as the detective who then also serves as the prosecutor is the one responsible for bringing down Washington's character of Frank Lucas who was one of the most powerful cocaine smugglers/king pins in US history. Frank took over the Harlem drug trade after legendary gangster Bumpy Johnson died.
Josh Brolin plays a corrupt NYPD detective who tries to blackmail Lucas.