From the very first time I saw a trailer for this movie I was hooked. Denzel Washington is a legend and the last time he played a villain he not only scored Oscar gold, but he also infused a charm into a purely evil man. Here, Washington was taking on a real life gangster and from the trailer it looked as if he was infusing this man with charm as well. Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington and Ridley Scott all together in a $100,000,000.00 epic gangster movie? Consider me sold! Having heard that Jay-Z loved the movie so much it inspired him to record another album? Consider me sold! With my expectations so high would this disappoint like Eastern Promises or exceed what I had hoped like We own the Night?
After his mentor dies of Natural causes, collection man, driver and hitman Frank Lucas (Washington) sees chaos happening in the streets of New York in terms of the drug trade. The mob is trying to hold it down and every other wanna-be hustler is trying to sell their own product as well. Even the corrupt cops are getting in on the action by taking drugs out of evidence, knocking down the purity and selling it back to the mob at an insanely high price. Lucas is determined to bring order back to the drug game in New York and he plans to do it by offering a better product at a lower price. It is basic economics. To find the good stuff he flies over to Bangkok and gets the 100% pure heroin directly from the source, cutting out the middle man, calling it "Blue Magic" and collecting all of the profits. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam war, Lucas was able to bribe anyone he needed in order to get 100's of kilos of heroin smuggled inside the coffins of dead American soldiers. His rise to the top was quiet and brutal. In the movie and possibly in real life, Lucas killed a man in the middle of the street in the middle of the day, just to show his power. Lucas believes in family over everything else and soon his entire family is up in New York working for him. Everything seems to be going Lucas' way. He is considered a savior to the ghetto and a hero to his family.
By Contrast detective Richie Roberts (Crowe) is living a life that is spinning out of control. He turned in a million dollars and now no cop trusts him. His ex-wife wants to take away his custody rights by moving to Las Vegas and his partner has just overdosed on a new brand of heroin called "Blue Magic." He is tasked with heading up a narcotic task force challenged to make only big arrests and big busts. He gathers a small group of trustworthy cops and they are trying to find out who is responsible for Blue Magic because the grade of heroin is so strong and so pure that it is killing people every day. At first he, like everyone else believes the mob is behind it but in a particularly brilliant scene at a boxing arena Lucas shows up on radars everywhere. First Detective Trupo (The brilliant Josh Brolin) attempts to extort money from Lucas which turns out not to be such a good idea, then Roberts finally gets a picture of him. At first it appears Lucas is merely a middle man but soon it becomes clear Lucas is running the New York drug trade. His blue magic has a monopoly and it has forced the mob to sell his product and take less profit.
This movie is nearly flawless in its execution of every single scene. The movie runs at 2 hours and 40 minutes but it never feels that long. Every scene is crisp, tight and intense. It takes a while for the plot to get moving because Scott is allowing us to get inside the lives of Lucas and Roberts. Often times we see the two of them doing the same things but it shows us Lucas on the top and Roberts struggling to make it. Washington and Crowe are both in top form here. Washington is effortless with his Lucas and plays him as a man who is smooth and charming but also as a man who can lose it over the smallest things. His loud breakdowns are jarring because he comes off so smooth over big things, which makes him that much more dangerous. Crowe for his part gives a nuanced, fidgety, low key but brilliant performance as one of the few good guys left. Crowe loses his trademark swagger fully with Roberts. Every supporting role is perfect and even every cameo is executed to perfection. Inf act my only gripe in this whole movie is that Roger Bart is only on screen for like 3 minutes. Playing an United states attorney he pops with an insane energy that is both shocking and exciting. Sadly most of his stuff is in the trailer, but his short moment on screen is so incredibly memorable.
I have a love-hate relationship with Ridley Scott, but here it is an all out love fest. Taking his time to set up both sides of the law here and then BAM hitting us over the head with a brilliant shoot out, a great little chase. But best of all he teases us for over two hours with Washington and Crowe never putting them on the screen at the same time and then finally giving us what we wanted- Crowe and Washington together. And it is so worth the wait. Crowe sets his camera up and lets the two geniuses work. It is like watching Chess masters feel each other out, showing a little bit of what he can do, just waiting for the moment to pounce. It is movie perfection. Scott has paced the movie well and injects the New York drug life into scenes of his movie by showing the slums getting high and dying. It is a great contrast to the life Lucas was leading off those addictions.
I know there is criticism that this movie glorifies the gangster lifestyle, but does it really? Lucas spends the last half of the movie worried someone is going to kill him. His wife is shot at and his entire world spins out of control. Lucas was caught and lost everything. Is that really glorifying this world? This is the best movie I have seen this year and I hope I can get out see it again, if just to watch two masters of acting. Or maybe just to watch Cuba Gooding Jr. remember how to act. The movie is off to a great start with a 46 million dollar opening and I am sure that this will be featured heavily in the awards season, but don't miss it, it is worth every second.
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