American Gangster

The story behind American Gangster is intriguing in one of those truth being stranger than fiction sort of ways but, even with a story that is larger than life, Hollywood can find a way to reduce that to the least interesting denominator. This is a BIG story made into a BIG movie with two Oscar winning heavy hitters in the leads and a great BIG fancy Director (Ridley Scott) and writer (Steven Zaillion.) Maybe it was the weight of its own self importance. Maybe it was the length. I was already to have my socks knocked off and found myself a little... bored.

The Return of Superfly was the working title and the story is that of one Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington,) a country boy who drives for a crime boss in 1970's Harlem and learns the bidness really, really well. When his mentor dies suddenly, he takes over the drug trade in the city, finds his own line of supply straight from Vietnam and with impeccable business ethics, outwits the cops and the Mafia to become very, very rich and very, very powerful. Of course, his nemesis Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) strives with equal nobility to bring him to justice. You just know how this one's going to end.

The interesting part of the story is that in the real world Roberts and Lucas became lifelong friends, despite the whole 'one sending the other up the river for a very long time' thing. Washington and Crowe worked and worked and they had an excellent supporting cast to play with, but again the screenplay didn't hold my attention. The really "interactive to the point of overkill" website is more entertaining.