Just Average...

Rating: 5/10 (12 November 2007)

I love Denzel and Russell. They have made great movies.
This was not one of them. It doesn't deserve an 8 but it doesn't deserve a 2 either.
I'm sure it has been said already but there were too many unnecessary parts in this movie. Who cares about Richie Roberts (Crowe) custody battle? There were too many scenes concerning his divorce and custody battle. They did nothing in terms of character development except to further pound in into our heads that he is a good man.
I didn't mind the 2 1/2 hour tag but the time could've been used better. One minute Denzel is just a driver and the next he is calling his connect in Vietnam buying heroin. I understand that the movie wanted to be different but it could've fleshed out Frank Lucas's rise to power.
And boy did I feel cheated toward the end, throughout most of the film, Frank Lucas is a reserved man even going out of his way to rough up a few of his friends/family members who draw attention to themselves yet his Puerto Rican wife buys him a chinchilla coat with a matching hat and all of a sudden he is breaking his own rule? I think the wrong things were left on the cutting room floor so to speak some scenes I could have definitely done without while others seemed to be missing from the movie.
It's not a MUST SEE but it's not a waste of time.