In Cinemas Now (Cert18) Empire -Poole Denzil Washington makes a surprisingly good baddie in this superior – and true – tale of crime, told with some style. And with Russell Crowe lined alongside this could be a box office hit.
Washington plays the notorious drug baron Frank Lucas who turned his nasty business into a streamlined enterprise in Harlem. Crowe plays the honest, if less than confident, cop tasked with bringing Lucas down and it all makes for a sparkling screen partnership in a classy film that sees the stars at their best. However the film is a based on a true story but the direction of the film doesn't really follow it. But it's a film thats entertaining so watch it on that basis.
The Story
Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars.
Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top.
