Movie: American Gangster

"They hate what you represent... You represent progress." - Warning to Frank Lucas, black gangster titan.

American Gangster starts off with a short scene where Frank Lucas unloads a gun in his victim after setting him ablaze with a healthy doze of fuel. You would definitely expect more brutal action from this movie, but you might be a little bit disappointed if that's what you really want. This movie isn't your typical gang movie filled with street brawls, gun fights and such, but more of the telling of a story. Denzel Washington, playing as Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe, casted as Detective Richie Roberts, star in this 157-minute movie that shows the rise and fall of one of the greatest black triad kingpins of all time.

The first section of the movie criss-crosses between the lives of Frank and Richie, whose lives seem to run parallel to each other, perhaps in an attempt to juxtapose (it can get a little dizzying) both their lives - one of an honest law-enforcer, one of a brutal triad leader. Frank takes over his previous boss's position as a black gangleader (from being his driver) and ropes in his family to run his drug business, while Richie goes about his work as a non-corrupt officer, struggling with his family and bar examinations. As the story develops, we see how their paths finally cross, and how Richie learns of Frank's existence as a kingpin, and seeks to put an end of the rampant drug-abuse in America, as well as to do away with corruption within the ranks of the police force.

The movie plays around with the stereotype of black people in America in the past, and how that discrimination found its way into the underground world of the triads as well. Unsuprisingly, this stereotype seems to haunt us even till today. It seems that many black rappers are playing the 'gangster' in today's entertainment scene - a seemingly sure-fire method in America at least. Perhaps, this movie is a gentle reminder on how far behind we are lagging socially, even as we (superficially) preach to do away with racism.

As mentioned, forget about the action, you are better off watching Rambo - coming soon as well - if you want action. Acting is of nothing to boast of, considering the lack of room to really shine in this storyline. Perhaps the plot development was done rather nicely, a great job with the way the story was told. Plenty of details to reflect the personalities of the characters, and the script was well-paced to ensure that the story did not become too choppy. Having said all these, I absolutely enjoyed the movie, and I'm sure most others would, too.