American Gangster/Gladiator/Black Hawk Down

Triple-bill of films directed by Ridley Scott. In 'American Gangster' (2007), when his boss dies, underworld driver Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) seizes his chance and begins to build his own criminal empire in Harlem.

Utilising the bodies of dead US soldiers, Lucas begins importing heroin direct from South-East Asia, increasing purity on the street, and undercutting his rivals in one swoop.

Before long he's amassed a fortune, bringing him to the attention of maverick policeman Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe), an honest cop in an otherwise corrupt force, who makes it his business to shut Lucas down.

In 'Gladiator' (2000), Scott's Oscar-winning take on the Roman epic lavishes the genre with the very latest in computer-generated effects technology.

After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) betrays the Emperor's beloved General Maximus (Russell Crowe) and takes the throne for himself.

Maximus is sold as a slave and then trained as a gladiator, keeping himself strong with thoughts of revenge.

Eventually he is taken to the Colosseum, where he prepares to fight in a contest presided over by the corrupt Commodus.

Will he suffer the ultimate humiliation and die for the entertainment of his enemy or will he survive the rigors of the arena and find a way of exacting his revenge?

Finally, in 'Black Hawk Down' (2001), following a series of attacks by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid on a Red Cross distribution centre in Somalia, a group of US Rangers are sent on a mission to capture two of Aidid's close associates in the capital city Mogadishu.

However, after successfully apprehending their targets, the Americans come under heavy attack from the residents of the city.

In the ensuing chaos, a US Black Hawk helicopter is shot down, and the surviving crewmembers find themselves trapped in a confused and relentless shooting battle with the enemy.