American Gangster (not jay-z's album)

Staring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe

Cameos: Cuba Gooding Jr., Idris Elba, Rza, Common, T.I. and a bunch of black character actors

Length: 2.5hrs

Overall: 7/10 (Denzel is great but not great enough to carry such a long movie

Note: Where else are you gonna see 3 rappers turned actors at their finest

When I first saw the American Gangster trailer (with Jay-z's Heart of the City playing) I wanted to see it so bad. I did some research on the real life person that the movie is based on, Frank Lucas and wanted to see it even more but in the months that I had to wait to watch it I saw more trailers and saw the premise of the movie change.

It started to look like it was more about Russell Crowe's character, Detective Richie Roberts. I assume that it was the producers attempt to make the film appeal to a wider audience which may have worked (the theatre that I went to had a variety of people, the majority black though).

Overall the story was riveting. It had some gruesome mob-style moments and in terms of 'gangster-ness' could be put just slightly below Scarface, who American Gangster mimics with it's posters.

The Cameos (listed above) were impressive. In the first minutes we are blessed with an appearance by Clarence Williams III, playing former Harlem boss, Bumpy Johnson. Not to mention seeing Rza, T.I. and Common (who has few lines). I haven't seen such good acting from rappers since Cube and Tupac flipped the scripted.

The only real negative was the two hours and half length of the movie and a couple of unnecessary sub-plots (including ones involving Crowe's character's former partner turn junkie and the sub-plot involving the demise of his personal life).

As with other movies I've seen I have to recommend that others go to see it. Washington was fantastic as a gangster (decades deep in his career and he is still bringing such talent to his roles) and the dynamic energy that various characters bring make the film interesting. Besides that, you don't want to be the only one out of the loop because every adult probably went to go see it....unless they are a Jerry Seinfeld fan and saw Bee instead.