Denzel Washington does not play a cop, or a coach. He plays a villain, and you know what? He’s amazing, he’s remarkable, and boy can he act! He plays a very believable villain in this film. The movie follows Frank Lucas, a gang leader that smuggles in Heroin into the U.S for years, without getting caught. Meanwhile, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) chases him through various different situations, trying to capture Lucas and everyone involved with the smuggling of the drugs. Seems simple, but it gets more complicated than my simplistic description.

Here is a trailer for the film American Gangster:

My only concern about historical representations, or movies based on true stories is the distortion of what really happened. The majority of people that saw this film probably ended their interest in the story here. If so, then the story stands as a glorified gangster movie, showing Lucas as a hero, instead of a villain. I know it’s twisted, but if you saw the movie, you probably understand what I mean.

The movie’s length also doesn’t bid well in this film, because a lot of things just seemed pushed through for dramatic efforts, but it doesn’t really help me out at all. This movie is alright, but when I read into the real story a little more, I realized that this glorification of gangster life, and the plastering of police ignorance, just wasn’t how it all went down. Oh well. Things don’t always have to be historically accurate, if they are fiction. But when studios put “based on true events” on their films, people automatically assume that the displays are NOT Fictional.

Seeing Denzel Washington play the bad guy is amazing, he makes the character come to life, even if it is a lie in this case. I liked the movie as entertainment, but for its blatant glorification of thug life (I always wanted to use that in a post), I don’t really think it’s all that great. I recommend it though, if only for the performances. American Gangster shouldn’t be called “based on true events”, maybe they can call it something else somehow.