Every Ridley Scott Movie Ranked Worst To Best

5. American Gangster (2007)

What American Gangster lacks in historical accuracy (once more Scott took liberties in the name of moulding the story in his own image), it more than makes up for in power. A lot of that comes down to Denzel Washington, who is incredible as 60s Harlem gangster Frank Lucas, whose drug empire becomes the focus of the local police department and Russell Crowe's Richie Roberts.

The film is gorgeously shot, but it's more about Scott finding a historically accurate- seeming frame and an aesthetic that serves as the perfect backdrop rather than him forcing spectacle in every scene. Instead, he allows the two powerhouse actors at the top of his bill do the talking, and the film sours because of that decision.

Rather than offering a hollow, glamourised fantasy of gangster life, it's also fiercely clever and utterly engrossing thanks to its depictions of class and character, and it manages to inject enough life into a well-storied genre to more than justify its own existence.