New Images from American Gangster

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 16, 2007

Universal Pictures has dropped some great new pictures on us from the upcoming film American Gangster. The set includes some pretty badass shots of bad guy Denzel Washington and top cop Russell Crowe. There are also some shots from the set that show off director Ridley Scott. I have to admit that I am really holding out hope for American Gangster. I was mightily disappointed with both Michael Clayton and We Own the Night, yet I still feel that this one can come out as one of the better films of the year. And despite the fact that my year has been one giant pile of blah, I’m still very excited to take a look at American Gangster. You can see the shots below.

American Gangster hits theaters on November 2, 2007.

Plot Synopsis: Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Oscar® winner 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 (Oscar® winner 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.

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