Envision a liquid substance pouring down on your head, mixing with blood that has just been beaten out of you. Two dark figures stand inches away as you scream in brutal pain. In seconds, a cigarette is lit and flicked in your direction.
Just imagine what happens next. This is brought to vivid life in the first 30 seconds of the film American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington (The Great Debaters) and Russell Crowe (3:10 to Yuma) alongside a star-studded supporting cast.
The film, based on real life events, graphically details the life of Frank Lucas, a black North Carolina-born man who relocated to Harlem and rose to rule the drug trade during the second half of the Vietnam War.
Washington, playing Lucas, proves once again that he can be seductively noble as an unworthy, heartless villain (see Training Day).
Gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson serves as Lucas' long-time mentor and Lucas, in turn, serves as his apprentice, collecting debts, doing all the footwork and settling old scores.
In a disheartening turn, Bumpy dies and Lucas immediately picks up where he left off. Concocting new ways to run the business, Lucas acquires pure heroine directly from Vietnam, both eliminating the middleman and selling better "H" on the streets at a price half of what his competition boasts, rewarding the man with both countless profits and enemies.
Director Ridley Scott (A Good Year), the mind behind Gangster, makes sure to keep vivid and explicit scenes on the big screen, unleashing them at any given moment, further encompassing the depth of the story.
From a club scene in Vietnam with women dancing provocatively on bars and American soldiers shooting heroin in their veins, to a lower class woman passed out on the bed with a baby crying in her arms, the damage that was done due to one man's greed is illustrated in a style that is as artistic as it is sadistic.
Due to the rampant use of heroin and opium in Southeast Asia at the time, Lucas requests that his cousin Nate (Roger Guenveur Smith, Cover), stationed in Vietnam, assist him in finding a drug source.
Along with the Mafioso side of the city, the movie illustrates the obvious irony apparent within United States law enforcement. Portrayed as a good versus evil battle between dirty cops and good cops, the police force in New York City seems to be a mob in and of itself.
Crowe's character, Detective Richie Roberts, appears to be a Serpico lone ranger, succeeding as a cop and failing as a father. Playing directly opposite Washington in the film, Crowe confirms his abilities as a seasoned actor, giving the womanizing good guy depth where many would have given in to the clich?(c)d, flawed hero.
From a tumultuous episode with a junkie partner, to problems with his wife (Carla Gugino, The Lookout), to being shunned by his fellow officers who feel betrayed by his good deeds, Roberts consistently brushes off the tempting hands of drug corruption.
This inner department confusion further complexes the story, forcing the viewer to find the good in morally bad characters, including the film's womanizing hero Roberts.
An epidemic of Lucas' Blue Magic, named for the potency of the drug, spreads like wildfire, starting in Harlem then throughout all of New York City's five boroughs. In on the drug distribution are countless cops, most noticeably Detective Trupo, played with mastery menace by Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men).
Lucas moves his entire family up from North Carolina and makes his brothers run their own cover businesses, ranging from dry cleaners to car shops - distribution spots for the heroin.
Two of Lucas' brothers, Huey and Turner, are played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk to Me) and rapper Common (Smokin' Aces), respectively. Both actors continue to prove their cinematic worth, contributing significantly to the success of this film.
Scott tells the story in such an informative and intricate way that he leaves viewers wanting more and even hoping the bad guys come out on top, if only for a moment.
