crime drama directed
by : Ridley Scott featuring
: Denzel Washington - Russell Crowe - Chiwetel Ejiofor - Cuba Gooding
Jr - Josh Brolin running
time : 2 hours 37 minutesDirector Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning
a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the
country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle
in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank
Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting
through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to
build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies
his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product
that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as well. When innovative
businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan
borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie
Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy
of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives
operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the
case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power
to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing
all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that
a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to
dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating
on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common
is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic
colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable
and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually
becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious.
