In 1970s New York City, a detective (Russell Crowe) works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country on planes returning from the Vietnam War. From director Ridley Scott, based on a true story.A pretty good bit of gritty, storytelling that's just a good ole gangster story with some great actors. Denzel is great as usual, and he's occasionally wicked, but I wish he'd have cranked up the mean side a bit more often. I predicted him toasting a couple of guys that wronged him, but it never happened. Russell Crowe was great as the good guy cop also. I do wish it wouldn't have taken so long for the 2 to share the screen. It was over 2 hours into it before they locked horns.
The story is heavy on dialogue more so than action, but it's never really boring. It's long but I wasn't glancing at my watch at all with the captivating story unfolding with thick suspense. It's intelligent, well-made and entertaining. Having said all those good thing... I think it's a really good movie that falls short of a classic, due to ending that left me a little wanting.
Not a tale we haven't heard before either. Think Scarface and Blow meets New Jack City... minus most of the violence of Scarface and big payoff at the end.
8/10
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