american gangster
frank lucas’ mentor passes away in front of him. Harlem erupts in a power struggle to fill the void he leaves. Lucas sees the conflicts, realizes where the real power lies, and takes advantage. Sideswiping the power structure of typical drug trade, he sets up his own where he controls the import, cutting, and distribution of heroin on his own. His product is better and cheaper than his competitors, so he rises quickly and catches the attention of an honest detective, Richie Roberts.
Richie works for a special unit in charge of narcotics. He is notorious for finding a large sum of untraceable money and turning it in. He surrounds himself with equally honest men and sets out to rid New York of the drug-running scum. When he begins investigating Lucas, he unravels an intricate web of greed, deception, and corruption. The story follows the rise of Lucas as a drug lord and the determination of Roberts in bringing him to account.
The direction is smart. The timeline is clearly defined with wardrobe, style, and color choices. The setting is detailed and probably close to correct. He depicts Roberts’ tepidity and Lucas’ boldness with equal strength. The sequences don’t stretch unnecessarily and the action is intense. The story emphasized the racial struggle and the business model of Lucas more than his brutality. The plot was intricate, but Scott didn’t overemphasize uninteresting pieces. The story goes through the decades at a reasonable pace, which makes the ending and character interaction stronger. Scott had a good scope of where he was going.
The cast is stacked. There are a couple hip-hoppers-turned-actors and a few bit parts, but Crowe (gladiator, beautiful mind) and Washington (philadelphia, inside man) were impressive (surprised?). I couldn’t tell how close to reality either was, but they both performed with intensity. Their characters were difficult, both having many sides, but they played them easily and they didn’t come off as forced.
Latent racial tensions and bold assumptions saturate the story. Lucas benefits from a disbelief in a black man’s ability to create a vertically integrated structure of power. He is underestimated. He is violent, but believes at his core that he is a business man with a high-demand product. He keeps himself out of the limelight, so Roberts originally passes him up. Underneath the violent gangster film, this one had something goodfellas lacked. Lucas, through unconventional means, achieved the american dream. He became extraordinarily wealthy after starting out with nothing.
It’s a good movie. It’s overrated in a lot of ways, but the subtle racial undertones, strong based-in-truth story and impressive performances make it one of the top ten movies of the year. It’s long. Two hours and forty minutes is tough to fit into a schedule, but if you put your expectations in check, you’ll likely enjoy it.
****