American Gangster2007

“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑. 𝑰𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑪𝒐𝒑𝒔, 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔... 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃𝒔.” This movie pretty much speaks for itself. Is there any way to honestly achieve the American dream? Frank Lucas becomes extremely successful, and while with one hand he reaches out to help the people of Harlem, with the other he takes their very lives away. But is he really evil or just the result of a long-seated system of corruption, racism, yada yada yada, you know, America stuff?  There’s really just not much to say. Russell Crowe is definitely playing in his wheelhouse as a morally ambiguous cop, but it’s a character he always plays well. But Denzel is the star, and he plays Frank with such charm and confidence that you still sympathize with him despite being shown the harm he has caused.  This might be my favorite crime movie. It’s not subtle, but it’s just an absolutely great watch. Back when Ridley Scott still knew how to make a good movie.