"American Gangster" is a tale about morality. The characters judge each other based on ethics and, in particular, the central characters' honesty comes into question.
The film, though, is not just about morality in the common cinematic sense, in which the characters ask the questions and answer them. In reality, Ridley Scott's latest features characters facing life-altering problems of ethics while successfully provoking responses from the audience. At the end of his lengthy masterpiece, all are left wondering who is the villain and who is the hero in such a complex and morally ambiguous world.
The movie is set in Harlem in the turbulent year of 1968. Though the film spans years down the road and includes settings from New York to Bangkok, Scott is able to provide an intimate and sometimes terrifying portrait of the inner-city life during the late 1960s and early '70s. Crooked cops and drug lords from competing Italian and black minorities rule the streets and even the seemingly best of characters are taken under the chokehold of heroin addiction.
"American Gangster," based on a true story, chronicles the rise and fall of one of these drug lords. Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington), is a heroin dealer who makes a name for himself after the passing of his mentor, who ruled Harlem for 15 years. Lucas, a charismatic and cunning businessman, cuts out the middleman and goes straight to the source of the drug - Vietnam.
Through his ex-wife's cousin, a soldier stationed in Thailand, Lucas is able to journey into the jungle and ship home hundreds of kilograms of pure powder, labeling it Blue Magic. Once he reaches the top, Lucas invites his North Carolinian family to join him in the business and Huey (Chiwetel Ejiofor), his younger brother, takes an especially active role as his protégé. But with success comes a price. The Lucases learn that time and time again as they fend off corrupt Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) and other aggressive kingpins in the neighborhood.
Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is one of the few policemen left who still has an ounce of decency, although only when it comes to turning over money and criminals. He fails as a father and his ex-wife Laurie (Carla Cugino) shatters his moral superiority complex when she derides him in front of a courtroom of spectators.
Roberts, like Lucas, is neither good nor bad. He is just one more character in a shade of gray. Professionally, Roberts, a Newark, N.J. cop, is recruited for the local arm of a federally established special narcotics bureau. He gets the chance of a lifetime to create an honest team and track down the supplier of Blue Magic in the streets of New York City.
Despite Crowe's fine performance as the honest, hardworking cop and the overall gifted cast, "American Gangster" is Washington's film. In every scene, even those with Crowe, a fellow Academy Award-winner, Washington is the star, drawing the audience in with anything from a laugh to a violent outburst. Though he will face tough competition, it is already clear that Washington deserves his third Oscar for "American Gangster."
Lucas quickly becomes the heart and soul of the film; falling for this powerful, hotheaded, murderous heroin kingpin is easy. Here is where the lines of morality truly blur; Lucas becomes the hero and Roberts is merely an obstacle to the success of a man who has worked hard to buy comfort for himself and his sweet, Southern extended family. In the end, Lucas is really just the embodiment of the American Dream.
Scott captures the era brilliantly and pulls the audience into a world of chaos, glamour and violence. He uses classic music from the time, including the fantastic 1972 hit "I'll Take You There" by the Staple Singers as well as news clips of the war in Vietnam and of the Ali-Frazier boxing match, all of which have the cumulative effect of placing the audience smack dab in the middle of the action.
