Movie Review - American Gangster

I know this blog is typically sports related but from time to time I will probably post something unrelated to sports, as is the case here. The first movie I've seen, since July, is American Gangster. Now I typically love most things with Denzel Washington...I think he is a tremendous talent. Movies like Glory and Training Day are stellar examples of what he can do.

American Gangster was good, but not great. I mean, it was exactly what I thought it would be, albeit a little long (2 hrs, 45 min.) We've seen this story before though. It is basically the same story as Scarface, staring Al Pacino. There are some variations between the two movies (Scarface was more violent overall) but it was basically the same story.

The interesting part of the movie revolves around Frank Lucas' (Denzel Washington's character) double life. On one hand he is a cold, calculating drug king pin who isn't afraid of putting a bullet in someones head in broad daylight with many people watching. On the other hand, he looks like the perfect son who buys his mom a plantation style house, takes her to church every Sunday and hosts Thanksgiving dinner for his family. Denzel does a good job of the role although it isn't my favorite role he has played (again, Glory and Training Day were better on his part).

Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe's character) is the relentless "good cop" who finally brings down Frank Lucas. Robert's life was interesting as well because he had high integrity and honor in his job (he found 1 million dollars in unmarked bills in a car and didn't keep a single dollar for himself) yet his personal life was a complete mess. And again, I like Russell Crowe in this movie but it isn't my favorite role he has played either (Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind were better).

All in all, it was a solid movie that could have been shortened and made better. But, it was entertaining and worth a look. However, there is a lot of drug use, quite a bit of nudity (nude women made the drugs...they were nude to keep them from stealing any of it) and parts of the movie, especially the end, are pretty violent so leave the kiddos at home for this one.