American Gangster is going to go down in the history of Hollywood as one of America’s classic movies. This suspenseful movie features two Academy Award winners, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The setting starts out in African American Harlem in 1970s with George Lucas, a quiet driver and bodyguard of one of Harlem’s black crime bosses, Ellsworth ‘Bumpy’ Johnson. He learns from his Bumpy and becomes an apprentice. His boss dies and Lucas becomes in charge of collecting debt from his boss former friends. Lucas starts to make a name for him self after battering people skulls in.

Having no source of income, Lucas becomes a dope king. He travels to China, where opium is produced. He buys the purest of opium, unlike anything on American streets because most were diluted with other chemicals. He imports mass amounts of opium to the American market through the United State’s military planes. He involves his family in the drug business and soon becomes one of America’s richest men, having connections from high ranking officials to movie stars.

Our other character is Detective Richie Roberts, one of the most honest cops in town. He is outcast by other crooked policemen having the fact that he turned in one million dollars of unmarked cash. Roberts has many personal issues in his life such as a custody fight and his partner becoming a druggie. A superior officer offers him a job as an undercover cop who targets and specializes on the American mafia.

Their stories connect when Roberts find clues leading that Lucas is higher on the chart than the American mafia. He tries to prove his point, but many challenged his theory. This story is an amazing journey. It shows graphic and heart stopping scenes such as when Lucas approaches a man during midday and shoots him right in the forehead as dozens of citizens stare or beating in a family friend’s brain out on a piano. You feel many emotions for Roberts, sometimes it’s annoyance, but mostly it’s pity.

This is the kind of movie that makes your eyes stick to the screen. The beginning, the cast, the acting, the setting, and ending were perfect. If you want to see a real American movie which is based on a true story, it is a requirement to watch the American Gangster.

Rating: five out of five stars