Director Ridley Scott, who did his research well for Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, also prepared well for American Gangster. The film’s visual challenges (the R is well issued for violent deaths, physical brutality, sex and full frontal nudity) and seemingly sacrilegious moments (hymns accompany images of junkies and drug raids) occur because this is a true story about real people.

Scott is not attempting to defile religion or aggrandize criminality; he is telling us about the real consequences that surround the decisions men make. His visual tones are dark and drab so that even the glitter of the high life appears cold and grey. The film has no flashy edits, Technicolor moments or particularly grand vistas.

Denzel Washington displays the morality of his character, Frank Lucas, only after making it clear that he is an amoral killer; in his capable hands we are not allowed to forget that dichotomy. Russell Crowe embodies Ritchie Roberts, an honest cop whose dedication and decency we see only after watching the slow and painful way he destroys his son and ex-wife through neglect and meaningless sex with nameless women. We are not asked to admire these men. There is no Maximus here (the hero played by Crowe in Gladiator), just a flawed police officer’s determination to catch one drug king when most of the other officers are trying to become one.

His reward and ours comes at the end of the movie, and while brief it is worth the wait. With the last visual image, brilliantly shot without dialogue, Ridley Scott expresses the thesis of his film: no one escapes the consequences of his actions. It is a hard but surprisingly moral lesson for an R-rated film, and it comes wrapped in a piece of history few of us remember.