http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx A good movie grabs you by the guts.&nbsp; A very good movie grabs your brain.&nbsp; And a great movie does both.&nbsp; AMERICAN GANGSTER is great. It&rsquo;s a suspenseful action- and violence-packed film.&nbsp; But it&rsquo;s also a morality play that takes place in that gray area where you can&rsquo;t tell the good guys from the bad and right from wrong.&nbsp; On the one had, you have Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a real-life drug dealers who flooded Harlem with cocaine in the early 1970s.&nbsp; On the other, you have Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the cop who brought him down.&nbsp; Ironically, they have more in common than not, including Horatio Alger pasts and single minded determination to succeed. The first time you see Lucas, he puts a match to an enemy he&rsquo;d doused with lighter fluid and then pumps several bullets into him.&nbsp; Later, in the middle of the day on a busy Harlem street, he cold bloodedly murders a competitor.&nbsp; Lucas just puts a gun to the man&rsquo;s head, fires and calmly walks back to the restaurant where he&rsquo;d been eating to finish his meal. Clearly, Lucas is evil incarnate.&nbsp; But there is something else almost admirable about him.&nbsp; He built a large business from scratch by supplying a better product at a cheaper price.&nbsp; He cut the middleman out and created an operation that could easily serve as a case history for the Harvard Business Review.&nbsp; And he did all in the face of potentially lethal competition. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx 77 60 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2056 this is a movie my other half will like:) tinkluvspan http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2056 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:08:21 GMT http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2067 Great, we needed another gangster movie, we haven't had one in like a week already. Dan http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2067 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:18:27 GMT http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2070 THIS SEEMS PRETTY INTENSE. CANT WAIT TO SEE THE FEEDBACK ON THIS ONE. brokun1 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2070 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:28:34 GMT http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2141 Gangster movie?????<br /><br />I thought all movies where black killed a lot of white dudes were Rap movies.<br /><br />Is Snoop Dog in this movie? Eitaporra4 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2141 Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:09:03 GMT http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2273 I've heard good feedback on this movie. I want to see it soon. Catyanna http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/04/AMERICAN-GANGSTER.aspx#2273 Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:52:44 GMT