NEW YORK -- Yet another entry in the hard-boiled but quirky crime-drama genre, "Suicide Kings" is somewhat more entertaining than most thanks to fluid direction, witty dialogue and Christopher Walken's sly and entertaining performance. Although no new ground is broken and the film is unlikely to reap significant commercial or critical response, it definitely ranks as one of the better Tarantino clones.
With a good chunk of the action confined to a single setting -- suggesting that the screenplay may have been born as a stage piece -- "Suicide Kings" offers the entertaining premise of a former mob chieftain, Charlie Barrett, a k a Carlo Bartolucci (Walken), being kidnapped by a group of callow youths. The sister of one of them has been kidnapped, with a ransom demand of $2 million, and the youths figure that Charlie is the only one with the power to rescue her.
The kidnappers include Avery (Henry Thomas), the son of a wealthy family, whose sister Lisa (Laura Harris) is the victim; T.K. (Jeremy Sisto), a medical student; Max Sean Patrick Flanery), Lisa's boyfriend, who was with her at the time of the kidnapping, and Brett (Jay Mohr), the cockiest and most high-strung of the group. After snaring Charlie, they bring him to a house owned by their friend Ira (Johnny Galecki), who shows up expecting a poker party and is quite disturbed to find the bloody mobster hogtied to a chair. The blood comes from Charlie's severed finger, which the boys have removed to make their seriousness known. It's a particularly dicey proposition, since Charlie's an alcoholic and his blood apparently doesn't clot properly.
Charlie, needless to say, doesn't appreciate his circumstances but goes along with the game, enlisting the services of his shady lawyer (Cliff DeYoung) and his vicious driver/right-hand man, Lono (Denis Leary, offering yet another chain-smoking, wisecracking, tough-guy performance).
Meanwhile, Charlie engages in dialogue with his captors, ranging from vicious threats to joking banter. While his minions attempt to find the girl, he analyzes his situation and discovers that things are not quite as they have been presented.
The story line is preposterous and doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but the pacing is swift and the dialogue funny enough to help one overlook the screenplay's artificiality and inconsistencies. The entertaining performances help the film enormously. Although Walken can by now play this sort of role in his sleep, here he delivers a hilariously funny and admirably understated turn that is alternately menacing and ingratiating; it's his best work in a long while.
The five young actors playing the misbegotten gang are quite effective, with Galecki particularly funny as the ever-aggravated Ira. Leary scores genuine laughs with his tough-guy act, and there are pungent cameos by the likes of Nina Siemaszko and Laura San Giacomo as female victims of abuse who benefit from Charlie and Lono's brand of intervention.
SUICIDE KINGS
A LIVE Entertainment release
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Screenplay: Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman, Wayne Rice
Producer: Wayne Rice, Morrie Eisenman
Co-producer: Patrick Peach
Executive producer: Stephen Drimmer
Co-executive producer: Rick Mischel
Director of photography: Christopher Baffa
Editor: Chris Peppe
Music: Graeme Revell
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charlie Barrett: Christopher Walken
Lono: Denis Leary
Max Minot: Sean Patrick Flanery
Ira Reder: Johnny Galecki
Brett Campbell: Jay Mohr
T.K.: Jeremy Sisto
Avery Chasten: Henry Thomas
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
With a good chunk of the action confined to a single setting -- suggesting that the screenplay may have been born as a stage piece -- "Suicide Kings" offers the entertaining premise of a former mob chieftain, Charlie Barrett, a k a Carlo Bartolucci (Walken), being kidnapped by a group of callow youths. The sister of one of them has been kidnapped, with a ransom demand of $2 million, and the youths figure that Charlie is the only one with the power to rescue her.
The kidnappers include Avery (Henry Thomas), the son of a wealthy family, whose sister Lisa (Laura Harris) is the victim; T.K. (Jeremy Sisto), a medical student; Max Sean Patrick Flanery), Lisa's boyfriend, who was with her at the time of the kidnapping, and Brett (Jay Mohr), the cockiest and most high-strung of the group. After snaring Charlie, they bring him to a house owned by their friend Ira (Johnny Galecki), who shows up expecting a poker party and is quite disturbed to find the bloody mobster hogtied to a chair. The blood comes from Charlie's severed finger, which the boys have removed to make their seriousness known. It's a particularly dicey proposition, since Charlie's an alcoholic and his blood apparently doesn't clot properly.
Charlie, needless to say, doesn't appreciate his circumstances but goes along with the game, enlisting the services of his shady lawyer (Cliff DeYoung) and his vicious driver/right-hand man, Lono (Denis Leary, offering yet another chain-smoking, wisecracking, tough-guy performance).
Meanwhile, Charlie engages in dialogue with his captors, ranging from vicious threats to joking banter. While his minions attempt to find the girl, he analyzes his situation and discovers that things are not quite as they have been presented.
The story line is preposterous and doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but the pacing is swift and the dialogue funny enough to help one overlook the screenplay's artificiality and inconsistencies. The entertaining performances help the film enormously. Although Walken can by now play this sort of role in his sleep, here he delivers a hilariously funny and admirably understated turn that is alternately menacing and ingratiating; it's his best work in a long while.
The five young actors playing the misbegotten gang are quite effective, with Galecki particularly funny as the ever-aggravated Ira. Leary scores genuine laughs with his tough-guy act, and there are pungent cameos by the likes of Nina Siemaszko and Laura San Giacomo as female victims of abuse who benefit from Charlie and Lono's brand of intervention.
SUICIDE KINGS
A LIVE Entertainment release
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Screenplay: Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman, Wayne Rice
Producer: Wayne Rice, Morrie Eisenman
Co-producer: Patrick Peach
Executive producer: Stephen Drimmer
Co-executive producer: Rick Mischel
Director of photography: Christopher Baffa
Editor: Chris Peppe
Music: Graeme Revell
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charlie Barrett: Christopher Walken
Lono: Denis Leary
Max Minot: Sean Patrick Flanery
Ira Reder: Johnny Galecki
Brett Campbell: Jay Mohr
T.K.: Jeremy Sisto
Avery Chasten: Henry Thomas
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/17/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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