In the late 1960’s, following the death of Bumpy Johnson, his driver Frank Lucas decides to take over as the ‘robin hood of Harlem’.
He wants a better business model for selling heroin, and decides to go straight to the source – and using the help of the Vietnam War, he heads to the Thailand jungle to secure direct product. Now selling pure heroin, he quickly becomes a powerful figurehead, even above the dons within the mafia.
Meanwhile “Honest” detective Richie Roberts, having just handed in $1m drug money, is the lead investigator of the ‘blue magic’ heroin that has hit the streets. His investigation leads him all the way up to Lucas, and puts him in the firing line of many, including the corrupt police who are on the same side as Lucas.
Direction
Directed by Ridley Scott, this was the unedited 175m behemoth of a viewing.
Scott really sells that this was set in the 60’s and 70’s – with flawless use of costumes/era appropriate attire etc. This seemed like a slightly toned down film in use of computer imagery etc, but it makes up for it with seemingly historical accuracy in the telling of Lucas’ story.
Cast/Characters
Virtuosity co stars Denzel Washington, and Russell Crowe play the leads – with both giving fantastic performances. They both have ‘morals’ and are at times ‘morally bankrupt’ when it comes to certain parts of their lives.
Other performers are
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Huey Lewis (one of Frank’s brothers)
Ruby Dee as Mahalee Lucas (Frank’s mother)
Cuba Gooding Jr as Nicky Barnes (one of Frank’s distributor of his heroin, and a crime boss himself)
Josh Brolin as Det Trupo – one of the ‘dirty cops’ working with Lucas
Ted Levine – as Capt Toback – Ritchie’s boss.
John Hawkes as Spearman, one of Ritchie’s colleagues
Idris Elba as Tango, one of the crime boss’ that Frank overthrows.
Cara Gugino as Laurie Roberts, Ritchies ex wife
There are many more ‘known’ actors with too many really to mention.
Breakdown
Based on a true story, the film is broken into essentially two stories. Franks and Richie’s
Frank is introduced in 1968 at the time Bumpy Johnson passed away as a result of a heart attack (although the film embellishes on where/when and who he was with).
Frank along with his family of brothers then begins his rise to power, being the one to bring pure heroin in from Thailand, with help of his cousin a US Army Sergeant, and bringing the drugs back directly via army planes etc.
His story continues by then seemingly becoming an ‘honest’ businessman, growing his reputation and befriending famous politicians, sports athletes etc, and then distributing that wealth for his family (buying his mother a house as well as other expenses).
I thought the way Lucas’ familial responsibility came front and center in his story. The way the black community, the way they connect and support each other was written well. This became almost the centrepoint of why Lucas ‘worked’ so hard for family.
Richies story is told simultaneously – where he is seen to be one of the only real ‘honest cops’ – turning in $1m of drug money, and becoming an ally for his boss. However he catches the eye of ‘dirty cop’ Trupo – who is one of Lucas’ distributors.
Despite its length, the film is generally easy enough to follow, with interesting character developments for both men. While Lucas is clearly an anti hero, he does distribute his wealth to those less fortunate that himself – giving out food and charity to the beaten down residents of Harlem. He’s essentially a wolf in sheeps clothing, and for the most part is cool calm and collected.
His loves story with Ava should have been given a little more, especially in a 3hr movie.
He does show moments of true immorality – with a few deaths at his hands (the opening few seconds, and then Elba’s Tango).
Richie is also shown to have some ‘immorality’ (however this was for the film version only) as he has a bad marriage, where he is shown to be a neglectful father. The real Roberts did not have any children, and only served to add some ‘poor integrity’ to his character.
I also found this to be a poor use of Carla Gugino as she is solid in almost all she does, and it was a waste of her talents.
The timeline of the film could have been handled better, and only really by research if one isn’t truly aware of the dates do we realise that the film goes over a six plus year period, with the film beginning in 1968, and Richie discovering the Lucas brothers in 1974 (the end of the war).
As the film has heavy drug concepts, there is also graphic drug use imagery throughout.
I loved Ruby Dee as Frank’s mother, I’m sadly not familiar with her historic film and television career,
It is really the third act which the film does brilliantly, with the shoot out in Frank’s drug den, Franks arrest, and his meeting Richie (and the pair finally sharing the screen together) ‘relationship’ with Richie whereby he helps Richie bring down all the dirty cops. I wish there were more than the 20 or so minutes of screen time given to this as it felt too rushed in a 3hr movie.
Overall
A very slow burn film, with great performances by all involved. Some slight changes to the screenplay could have made this a top mark, but even without this, it is a near perfect film.
4.5/5
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