Thursday 7 February 2008

AMERICAN GANGSTER: Decent Cinema


American Gangster
Directed by Ridley Scott
Main Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Cuba Gooding Jr.

Forget all other Scott movies, but the pattern remains. The opening scene rests on shock value, kerosene or gasoline raining down on a man before he is set on fire and shot by Frank Lucas (Denzel), an assistant to a drug lord who rises to power in the drug supply market. On the other side, Ritchie (Russell) is probably the only honest cop in town. The main protagonists clash as Ritchie attempts to bring down Frank's drug empire. Based on a true story, the film is engaging for the most part, despite having a cop versus gangster concept that we have viewed so many times before. The two main characters are largely responsible for lifting the film out of its tried and tested ground to make it interesting cinema. 

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