SUICIDE KINGS RATING: 6.5 / 10 --> So-so
For more movie review and trivia, go to http:/surf.to/joblo/
Christopher Walken re-enacts his role as the low-talkin', wise-cracking mobster he twice played in Abel Ferrara's KING OF NEW YORK, and my personal favourite TRUE ROMANCE (9/10). This film blends some of the camaraderie of the gangsters from THE USUAL SUSPECTS (7.5/10), with the hipper-than-thou Tarantino undertones of the RESERVOIR DOGS (9/10)(see Little Known Facts below for an homage to DOGS in this film), and comes up with another cinematic cocktail served via slick characters.
PLOT: Five rich friends kidnap an ex-mob boss in order to get him to help them retrieve the kidnapped sister of one of the guys. The mobster is handily tied up to a chair and forced by said fellas, to attempt a recovery of the snatched lass, despite him having nothing to do with the actual caper. Soon enough, the friends all start suspecting each other of being involved in the sister's kidnapping, while the cool mobster gently massages their collective brains for relevant information.
CRITIQUE: Interesting ensemble piece that features plenty of good actors doing their stuff, in a script obviously written within the Tarantino universe, this film offers some cool dialogue, cooler characters, but an overall flawed plot line, that finally falters in its ambiguous conclusion. I don't want to be blunt about this whole thing, but the fact of the matter is that a gentleman by the name of Christopher Walken just rocks!! And I'm not talking about in this film alone. I'm talking about the man's legacy of playing extremely creepy, warped, dangerous, but always interesting characters with the Walken twist of lime always stuffed in on the side. If you like this man's acting abilities, his skill to consistently project fear across a movie screen, his capacity to convey fierce emotion by simply drawing his eyelids to a close, his charismatic smile and blinding jet-black hair, you will enjoy him in this film.
Admittedly, the rest of the cast also rack up some brownie points in their respective roles, with Denis Leary drumming up some of the funniest lines this side of his jellyfish boots. But all in all, the film lacked the originality needed to make it a good film. It had some of the elements, some wired scenes, some great actors, but it was missing the key element that made all of the previously mentioned films re-watchable over and over and over again: a great story. You could slap all the bells and whistles you want around Christopher Walken's chicken-like neck, but you won't garner half the nacho-munching film geeks that the others would, unless you manage to lasso a great script into the molten mix. This film has some of the pieces of that mish-mash, but can't complete the magic puzzle because of its lack of originality, uninspired soundtrack and weak ending. Walken and Leary alone deserve salsas for being the awesome ball-busters that they are, but the film as a whole works particularly when served as an after-dinner divertissement, or a pre-supper aperitif. Fun enough to watch and be playfully amused, flawed enough to forget once the last melted morsel of cheese is scarfed off the proverbial nacho plate.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: There is an obvious homage to Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS in this film (His influence is palpable in the screenplay), in the one scene where the two kidnappers are watching said classic motion picture on the tube (Blink and you'll miss it.) It's the scene in which Mr. Pink is hauling ass from the cops via a stolen vehicle. Christopher Walken's real name is Ronald Walken. He was director George Lucas' second choice for the role of Han Solo in 1977's STAR WARS (8.5/10). He has been married to the same woman for over 25 years. One of his most famous quotes, "I make movies that nobody will see. I've made movies that even I have never seen." Denis Leary is the cousin of TV's late night talk show host himself, Conan O'Brien. This film is based on a short story written by Don Stanford, called "The Hostage." Henry Thomas is better known for his childhood role as Elliot, the lucky kid who befriended E.T. Sean Patrick Flanery is a triathlete with a black belt in karate. Jay Mohr was a performer on TV's "Saturday Night Live" for a few years.
Review Date: December 7, 1998
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Writers: Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman and Wayne Allan Rice
Producers: Morrie Eisenman and Wayne Allan Rice
Actors: Christopher Walken as Carlo Bartolucci/Charlie Barret
Denis Leary as Lono Veccio
Sean Patrick Flanery as Max Minot
Henry Thomas as Avery Chasten
Jay Mohr as Brett Campbell
Genre: Thriller
Year of Release: 1998
Visit JoBlo's Movie Emporium
http://surf.to/joblo/
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews