Much better than any of this genre preceding it

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2007)

I had mixed feelings going into this movie. I had seen the television documentary on Frank Lucas, and wondered how the movie could improve on that. But what a knockout film. During the middle of it, I was worried that it was devolving into a standard drug bust-shootout movie. But the ten minute dialog between Washington and Crowe was mesmerizing. The thrust and parry, each one psychologically circling the other, figuring out the weak points and strengths of the other in deciding how to negotiate with each other, the mutual caginess and respect, was fascinating to watch. Why couldn't the rest of the movie have more of this intelligent, absorbing kind of tete-a-tete?