Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant, Frank Lucas, the movie follows him as he grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Ku Klux Klan for merely looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by travelling to Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. He soon made over a million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to justice. The two then worked together to expose the crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing heroin so easy.

Make no mistake - the American Gangster in this movie is not Denzel Washington; it really ought to be the judges, crooked cops, politicians, jailhouse superintendents and 100,000 other lowlifes Russell Crowe's cop character Richie Roberts says is on the narcotics payroll in 70's Manhattan.

What can one expect out of this No.1 box office gangster movie? The first surprise is that "American Gangster" is beautifully contained for a mainstream mobster flick. It doesn't resort to the all-too-cool Denzel Washington one-liners we are used to; and even dares to put Russell "Gladiator" Crowe out as a fumbling loser who womanises and can't keep his family together.

The cinematic juxtaposition of Washington's Frank Lucas and Crowe's Richie Roberts is obvious - one straight-laced-but-otherwise-decadent cop against one disciplinarian family man heroin kingpin. Although reports have surfaced on the Net about how inaccurate these depictions are (from the horses' mouth of Lucas and Roberts themselves after viewing it when the movie premiered stateside last September) it is always a good idea to get the audience liking the bad guy and questioning how good the good guy actually is. Washington and Crowe both reportedly met their respective characters to learn their mannerisms and came away with a very entertaining portrayal of the two, accurate or otherwise.

Does Ridley Scott really have an ideological stand behind it? "American Gangster" has scenes from "Shaft" and music from "Jackie Brown", yet avoided the melodrama in "A Bronx Tale" and trash talking in "Training Day". Without even delving into the historical actualities of how Lucas apparently managed to smuggle dope through coffins of US soldiers returning from the Vietnam war, the movie feels very authentic, not only because of the attention to costume design and location, but because it refuses to shine the spotlight on any one character to carry the movie. It is a story-driven pitch that might disappoint the action-seeking portion of the audience.

Still, "American Gangster" boasts great performances from the heavyweight lead pair but also features wonderful bits with Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Love Actually"), Josh Brolin (the upcoming "No Country For Old Men"), Cuba Gooding, Jr. ("Jerry McGuire") and even Wu-Tang rapper RZA making up the spectrum of dodgy characters on both sides of the law who are waiting to pounce on dope money. However, just like how the gangsters in the film are always complaining that the heroin is cut, we are also going to complain that the movie is cut. Butchered no end for requisite gangster F-words, we also presumably miss out on many drug-processing scenes where women are employed to package the merchandise and are required to be naked so that no smuggling is possible. Annoying as this may be, this time due to the wonderful narration, the censoring is not fatal to the story.

With all the dope, guns and girls, "American Gangster" is unexpectedly more drama than action, despite how the title may sound. It is quite long, clocking in at two and a half hours - but feels rewarding enough to make it worth your while.

So what have we learned? That Crowe can look convincingly pathetic as a potbellied cop? Or that the duality of good and evil (especially in that "Godfather"-esque montage of Lucas cutting prime turkey at this White House home while junkies are dying elsewhere) in gangster movies are always crowd-pleasers?

The real-life, now-released Frank Lucas is reportedly making some side income from this movie, with video game instalments on the way, so I guess the message is constant - bad guys always win. Our one-up on them is that we can censor their swearing in Malaysian cinemas.

With two Oscar-winning actors in the cast and Ridley Scott at the helm, expectations are invariably high for this movie. It won't disappoint but many movie fans will be wishing that there aren't so many snips by the censors.

Set in the 70s, the plot deals with two guys in New York City, a white cop and a black gangster, played by Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, and Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, respectively. Richie is best known as the cop who returns US$1 million in bribe money to the authorities, making him a pariah among the crooked cops in the force. Transferred to a newly-formed narcotics division, Richie sets his sights on nailing drugs kingpin Lucas, even as he wrestles with his ex-wife (Carla Gugino) over the custody of his son.

Frank Lucas, on the other hand, rises from being a driver for a mobster to Harlem drug boss, after securing a direct heroin deal with the producers in Thailand, shipping out the contraband via his contacts in the military. Soon, Frank becomes the target of the narcotics police and even has the Mafia boss Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante) working for him.

The sequences involving Frank are interesting and intense, with lots of insights into the drugs trade and personal angles like his relationship with his beautiful wife (Lymari Nadal) and family, especially his mother. Washington fleshes out his character solidly, both as 'businessman' and 'family man'. And even as the criminal, he has us rooting for him. One particularly gripping moment sees him eliminating a rival in a busy street, after which he returns nonchalantly to his friends at a restaurant. The co-stars, like Ruby Dee as his mother, also put up credible performances.

Segments involving Richie are rather personal and not as dramatic as that of Frank's but the subplot about corrupt cop Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) can make our blood boil. Brolin takes to the role with relish - suggesting that the title may be more about his cop Trupo than Washington's Frank.

All in all, Scott has given us a compelling look at the 'hood gangland that is markedly different from those of the Italian mobs of "The Godfather". It should delight both action fans and those who like art movies.