American Gangster

I saw American Gangster today on the second attempt. The first time I went to see it in the cinema last weekend it was booked up. As it happened this was fine because I got to see Stardust instead. But I’d heard good things about American Gangster as well so I still wanted to see so I finally caught up with it today.

It’s based on the true story of a gangster called Frank Lucas (Denzille Washington) who set up a heroin supply route from Asia into the United States during the Vietnam war. I’d heard a little bit about his real-life story on the radio during the week which was a little bit of a spoiler for me. Nevertheless I had a great time.

In the wrong hands it could easily have become a black and white tale of the bad heroin dealer and the maverick cop (Det Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe) who was out to get him but it became much more than that. It also showed the corrupt cops, of whom there were an awful lot, and it showed all sides of Frank Lucas.

As is always the case it is possible to find good and bad in everyone and in Franks we could see the cold, heartless murderer, the supplier of death and misery to thousands, who was also kind to his mother, loyal to his family and the memory of the gangster who was his mentor. Interspersed with the story we also saw glimpses of the misery caused by heroin abuse, which were important to remind us of what it was the Lucas was dealing in.