In 2024, the second installment of GLADIATOR will be released, the film that, at the beginning of the 21st century, carved a place in the memory of moviegoers and kept them eagerly awaiting the sequel. If in the first film the protagonist's role, played by Russell Crowe, was one of the film's biggest draws, in the sequel, the antagonist, portrayed by Denzel Washington, steals the show. Between the two films, there was a movie that reunited the two actors and was also directed by Ridley Scott, the creative force behind both Gladiator films: three geniuses in a single project. Undoubtedly a pleasant coincidence that draws moviegoers to the small screen, because this film, titled AMERICAN GANGSTER, from 2007, is available on several platforms. In this film, Denzel plays the villain, while Russell plays the cop. Although legal codes dictate who is good and who is not, the script gives them a grayish humanity that keeps them in no man's land, but guarantees that whoever sees them will think they are believable characters.

The story of AMERICAN GANGSTER is based on real events, and while this doesn't determine the quality of the script, it does help to illustrate the scale of the illicit operation controlled by the film's protagonist. Denzel Washington creates a character reminiscent of Al Pacino's in THE GODFATHER II. Here, he plays a man approaching forty, with unwavering goals, willing to sacrifice himself to achieve them. One might think he's similar to the villain in GLADIATOR II, but no, because the character Washington plays in the Roman epic is servile, while the one in AMERICAN GANGSTER has nowhere to hide his overflowing dignity. He is extremely violent, but this trait is only displayed when the scene demands it for the character to be understood.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe first appeared together in the 1995 film VIRTUOSITY, playing the lead roles, and later reunited in 2007 in AMERICAN GANGSTER, in both cases as fictional enemies. This rivalry, so to speak, spilled over into real life when, at the 2002 Academy Awards, both were nominated for Best Actor, with Washington taking home the award for TRAINING DAY. Crowe had won the previous year for the first GLADIATOR film, which would become the pinnacle of his fame. Around that time, in 2000, he was nominated for THE INSIDER and in 2002 for A BEAUTIFUL MIND. This is why AMERICAN GANGSTER is such a significant film; the talent involved is truly phenomenal. Those who see the film will find Russell Crowe playing a cop who is honest to a degree his colleagues consider pathological, but who goes off the rails by being unfaithful to the point of his marriage breaking down. His character is complex because, although his childhood friends are now mobsters, he remains on the straight and narrow until he has the opportunity to confront the biggest heroin cartel in early 1970s New York.

AMERICAN GANGSTER is a film by Ridley Scott, the same director of the two GLADIATOR films. It's worth noting that Russell Crowe starred in the first GLADIATOR film, while Denzel Washington played the antagonist in the second. This demonstrates a high level of trust in both actors. As of 2024, Scott had directed two films with Denzel Washington and four with Russell Crowe, though AMERICAN GANGSTER is the film that brings these three together. It competes with iconic films of the crime genre, films that are difficult to ignore. For example, the story takes place in New York, the same setting as the first GODFATHER, directed by Coppola in 1972. New York is also the same city where Scorsese has set much of his filmography, featuring characters from the urban underworld. Although the two directors mentioned have the advantage of belonging to the immigrant minority groups that are the subject of their films, Ridley Scott, also a brilliant filmmaker, achieves with AMERICAN GANGSTER a film that reveals another facet of the mafia world, one in which racial issues are present. And it works well because the characters possess the megalomania that characterizes some of his best projects. Thus, in GLADIATOR, the protagonists confront an empire to transform it, and in this one, in AMERICAN GANGSTER, an African-American criminal competes against the Italians for control of the mafia empire within another empire: that of North America. Therefore, if you are among the audience that is moved to tears by characters who confront the world without regard for their own insignificance, AMERICAN GANGSTER is probably the film you want to see, and streaming platforms will bring it right to your doorstep so you can say, "There's nothing like a good movie.".