Oh, what a movie! It's dark and gritty from the first scene all the way through until the end. Based upon the New York Magazine article The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson the film is a bio-picture about the criminal career of Harlem gangster Frank Lucas.

The film is helmed by the three recognizable names: director Ridley Scott, Denzel Washington (who plays Frank Lucas) and Russel Crowe (who plays Detective Richie Roberts). It's interesting to see Ridley Scott push into a new realm of movie genres. He's credited with directing such huge films as Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Gladiator (2000). He's done quite a few different genres including science fiction, historical and period films, action, and romance, but this film may be his first huge contemporary biography picture.

With Scott's history of not wanting to hold back on the visual intensity of the story the audience is thrown right in to the tumultuous life of Frank Lucas. The first scene we see on the screen is the stern face of Lucas watching a grown man burn to death. Not a word is spoken during this brief scene, but we could only imagine that the burning body was an associate and Lucas had lit him on fire as a form of punishment for a deal gone wrong. Just when I began to think that Lucas is an utter butthole he steps in to offer a little bit of mercy by shooting the guy several times before he dies from the burns. What an insane way to begin a film!

Frank Lucas is a character that exists in a paradoxical life. He lights a guy on fire, but then attempts to show mercy on his victim by putting him out of the blazing misery with a couple of gun shots. Am I supposed to like Lucas or hate his guts? Then on the complete opposite end of the moral spectrum the audience is introduced to the morally just boy scout. Detective Richie Roberts has established a reputation in his district when he found a million dollars in drug money which he turned in without setting aside a single penny for his own selfish pleasure. It is clear by the reactions of his fellow peers that they would have kept some of the money for their own profits if they had discovered the drug money.

Just like several other American films this one is graphically violent. But I was still enthralled by the storyline that holds the picture together. In his review Roger Ebert mentioned that this film was originally referred to as "The Black Godfather" when it was announced to the public as Ridley Scott's next production. I would waver on the short description for this picture. The film does involve the subject of organized crime as The Godfather trilogy had focused upon, but this film involved primarily upon the subject of drug dealing. In the first film of the series Don Corleone had denied approval for the family to become involved in drug dealing, but the subject matter wasn't the primary focal point for the film. In American Gangster it was the business method of choice for Frank Lucas.

Throughout the film there is a internal war going on for Frank Lucas, he is fighting his own moral conscious. He's a successful business, but he is a criminal who commits heinously violent acts against other people. By the end of the film one of the two sides has completely taken over Lucas mindset. His moral conscious wins the war, and he receives a reduced sentence for his compliance with the law. I think this film does have a wonderful ending. The last thing we see is a bland shot of Lucas standing in front of the entrance to the jail that he was imprisoned in for several years. He had just served his time in jail and he's standing on the street listening to the rap music of the early 1990s. It's apparent that he has to start a new life from scratch since he doesn't recognize the streets that he once called his territory.