Great merging of plot directions makes this film an awesome watch

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2008)

American Gangster is a movie that must be watched closely in order to be fully appreciated. The character of Richie Roberts is portrayed wonderfully by Crowe and the background behind this character is paved well. Unfortunately the background of the character of Frank Lucas (Washington) was not fully shown to the audience from my perspective. I guess this is the case due to time constraints, but it seems his character launches straight from bodyguard status to drug-lord status without any real progress of development. Despite the background discrepancy with Frank Lucas, Washington portrays the character wonderfully and their is no doubt the acting in this film is top notch, but its expected with this cast.
This movie is able to take the basic plot of drug-lord vs police force, cut it up and add extra plot directions and munch it all together so it ends up being more like drug families vs corrupt police force vs honest police force. And the greatest thing of all, it does it successfully.
You really need to see this movie, its amazing how it is compiled and executed on the screen.
8/10