Runtime: 2 hr. 37 min.
R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality
Genre: Drama
Release Date: Nov 2, 2007

Synopsis:  It is a story about the life of a drug-king who turns informant. Frank Lucas grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched his cousin get shot by the Klan gang for looking at a white girl. He made his way to Harlem, and his instincts and dare-devil attitude got him to become a feared and much respected heroin drug-lord. He travelled to Asia’s Golden Triangle, the source of heroin, and shipping the heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam, he soon makes more than a million dollars a day in drug sales.

But the law soon catches up with him, and rather than take the fall, he becomes an informant, helping the crime fighters to expose crooked cops and lawmen who make importing drugs to the US so easy. 

Verdict:  Like all Denzel’s movies, the acting is flawless, the script is given due attention, and the plot is interesting. It isn’t very violent like most gangster movies. American Gangster hints of a classic gangster film, with top class performances from its star cast. But, in addition to the movie having that familiar story line, you are left with the feeling that it could have been so much better...

Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Steven Zallian
Producer: Nicholas Pileggi , Branko Lustig , Karen Kehela-Sherwood
Studio: Universal Pictures

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