American Gangster

In celebration of handing in my dissertation on Tuesday (2 days before the deadline!) I finally got round to selecting some DVDs to rent from my LoveFilm account… I only bought 4 rentals so I’m being somewhat selective.

Anyway, the first one I got was American Gangster. It’s based on the true story of Frank Lucas, Harlem drug-lord in the late 1960’s and of Richie Roberts who prosecuted him along with other drug dealers and corrupt police officers. Although there’s a couple of bloody/not very nice violent bits it’s surprisingly tame for a gangster film, it gets the 18 rating very much for the drugs theme.

Denzil Washington (Lucas), and Russell Crowe (Roberts) both give good performances, and you know it’s going to be pretty good with them in it. The film is well produced, good dialogue and visually captivating - unsurprising as it’s directed by Ridley Scott. I liked the way in portraying a true story you get to see something into the personal lives of the two men surrounding the ongoing drug-dealing main events. Good distraction from starting revision.