Very entertaining, even if it does nothing new.

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2007)

well Crowe and Scott are back again which is not a bad thing although i think they might be getting a little to comfortable with each other, but I'm getting ahead of myself lets break it down.
let me sum this up for 2 people
1. the people who have seen films like French connection, new jack city, godfather and the endless lines of clones you will basically be seeing the French connection/ new jack city, even though those films were taking story elements from the real frank Lucas' career you cant help but see the similarities and the film becomes a lesser film because of it
2. those who haven't seen anything about mobsters or cops trying to take down mobsters before, well than this is a 9/10 10 out of ten for you unless your a smart person then the story itself will bring it to a 8 or 7/10
story: 1/3 of this is really entertains too much is going on way too much between Russell's custody of his kid, (who we see once and are supposed to feel for) and power struggles between Mr. Washington's country boy brothers who are new to the flashy take whats yours life style that frank has and his brothers (who we also touch on for only a second) and Mr. Washington wife coming to terms with her husbands dealings (should of scraped that story all together along with Russell's kid)
the story itself you've seen it before many many times. its a simple retelling of much better films, but its told very well with as always a fully realized view of the world that Scott is showing you. Everything is muted and full of dark grays, in Russell's world it has that great new jersey bleakness to it and in Mr. Washington's world although more violent is altogether more vibrant and also darker at the same time. The look of this film itself is a 10/10. there is a great film in here somewhere and had it been a 3 1/2 hour epic film it would be winning awards across the table, but alas its a 2+ hour semi-epic trying to break free from the confines of a self contained studio film. from the beginning i thought this was a fiction tale but of course, it is based on a true story and it is a very good one. i wish they had spent more time on just how does one black man in that era build this empire, now that is a story that hasn't been touched on enough but ultimately it shows how he gets his one connection: he gets the house and the other usual rap song trimmings and then comes the regularly scheduled love interest, who is given nothing to do. i could care less about her she apparently doesn't care what frank does as long as she gets fur coats but we've sen that overused plot device for years now and frankly I'm sick of it id rather frank be gay so at least it be something different
after a killer start an OK middle and a by the motions 3rd act i was left wondering and hoping that there is, a as always a Mr.Scott directors cut out there with the hour and a half of character development that is sorely needed
acting; as i said before i think Scott and Russell are getting to comfortable with each other Russell's performance is strange he supposed to be a bumbling civil servant who turns hard ass throughout the movie, but something about it just doesn't work for me. at times he seems too relaxed but ultimately the character itself is under-developed
as for Mr. Washington the man can do no wrong in my eyes, he really makes this film. As we already know its fun as hell to watch him play the bad guy and you can tell hes having a lot of fun with it too, i only wish we saw more of him being really ruthless but instead we just get the usual initial set-up to his being a bad ass. But its damn fun to watch.
bottom line: there are much better films on this subject most of them can be found from 70's. unless you are not a big film goer then settle in and watch a very entertaining film even if it does nothing new.
p.s. i don't know who fixed up this comment section for i.m.d.b. but if i cant use the actors name what good is it. thats why i had to use Mr. Washington and Russell because i.m.d.b. does not recognize Mr. Washington's first name Mr. Scott's first or Russell's last.