American Gangster

[Highly rated reviewer]

Ridley back on form

After one of the most explosive opening scenes you're ever likely to see for a long time,this slow burner gets into stride and takes you with it. This story of the rise and fall of black 70's Harlem druglord Frank Lucas is loosely based on fact.Denzil Washington stars as Lucas and gives his best performance since his potrayal of a low-life 'tec in Training Day for which he won an Oscar. Lucas is a conservatively dressed small businessman on the surface,but lurking beneath this facade is a ruthless heroin wholesaler who undercuts all competition with deadly

uncut smack straight from the poppy fields in war ravaged Vietnam, He has local politicians,the army, and cops in his pocket,and with their help sets about wiping out his rivals.

The subplot concerns honest cop Russell Crowe who is given the task of putting a squad together in order to clean up the Ciy's drug problem.

The film looks brilliant. Scott and his team have pulled out all the stops in portraying seventies New York in all it's corrupt, faded glory.The cast

are all excellant and the script never lets them down for a single second. Though violent at times,the film is never gratuitous as it blurs the line

between corrupted and corruptor. All in all a tour de force from Scott,

and the best gangster film for an age. Don't miss it.

Waste of time

I thought this would be action packed instead it was very long and dull, the only time I was interested was 10 minutes before the end. Overall I think I would have prefered walking the dog.