American Gangster

Synopsis: Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant, Frank Lucas, who grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Klan for looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by traveling to Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. He soon made upwards of one million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman, Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to justice. The two then worked together to expose the crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing heroin so easy.

Review: This is one of the strongest film I've seen so far in 2008, a solid good 2 1/2 hrs of good acting and old school backdrop. Have been wanting to watch this film since I heard Jay-Z's American Gangster album and after watching the trailer, it made me even more pumped up to watch this movie. It has everything in it, guns, gore, blood, sex, nudity, drugs and profanities you name it and its all packed into this movie 70's style. The way how Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe managed their characters were also brilliant. Both of them were so contrasting yet they compliment each other so well in the movie that it seemed like their characters knew each other way back in college. The entire backdrop of the 70's were also outstanding with so much details being inputted that you were like seeing a real live documentary minus the black and white tattered images from old school television. Its all vividly real and harsh. Drugs ain't good for you and the movie tells you how it could ruin one's life and future if you choose the wrong path. Kudos to Ridley Scott and his crew to make this one hell of a movie which is worth every dollar.