FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

When his mentor dies, Frank Lucas takes it upon himself to be the best drug dealer in town. The city needs to get its heroin from somewhere, and Lucas is determined to make sure it’s from him. So, he sets up a drug smuggling operation overseas to get better quality drugs shipped to him so that he can have the good stuff and offer it to his customers for less than the competition’s inferior product. Meanwhile, Richie Roberts is a detective looking to put a stop to this increasingly rampant drug use. The only problem is that his fellow police officers won’t work with him, because after he turned in one million dollars in cash as evidence, they’re not sure his honesty is the best policy for their crooked ways. Can anyone take down Frank Lucas’ operation? Does anyone on the force even know who he is?

So, the movie is based on a true story. It’s an interesting one, I must say, but I can’t help but think it could have been more so. Lucas and his quick rise to power, and his ability to dominate the New York drug market, all the while staying low-key enough so that none of his law-enforcement enemies even knew who he was makes for a fascinating story. Add to the mix that he employed his large family and had a business comes first attitude, and things get more intriguing. But then when you throw a cop into the mix it starts to screech to a halt.

Now, I know that virtually every story needs to have a protagonist and antagonist, but that doesn’t mean they both have to be so prominent. I mean, when you have a guy whose character flaw is honesty, something probably needs to be re-thought. Another problem is that it seems like there’s just too much story to be told. Even though the film clocks in at just over the two and a half hour mark, it goes by quickly and there’s still plenty more that we should be seeing. Without giving anything away to those that may not know about Lucas’ life, I’ll just say that the film very quickly glances over the ending, which had the potential for a lot of great moments. Maybe cutting down the detective’s role would have helped facilitate showing us more of the better story in Lucas.

The biggest problem, though, is that “American Gangster” is just as generic as its title. This is your typical gangster flick. I’m not saying it’s bad, because it isn’t, but it’s not great in any respect. The only real notable aspect of the film is that there’s something of a role reversal in the casting. In any other movie, you’d most likely see Russell Crowe (Roberts) playing the bad guy and Denzel Washington (Lucas) playing the good guy. By the way, Washington wasn’t evil enough. I never believed his anger, only his businessman. Other than that casting, which isn’t monumental either, there isn’t anything here to really separate it from the rest of the pack and nothing to make it half as memorable as a Scorcese film.

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