King Of New York
Perhaps no actor other than Christopher Walken can convey more pain and sorrow in a single closeup, so many inner feelings of turmoil. Unfortunately those things alone are not substantive enough to properly carry a film or a performance, as it is in Abel Ferreraās cult crime film (which went on to be a major influence on gangsta rap). As Frank White, a New York crimelord recently paroled who decides to reenter the criminal scene with the intention of doing some good (namely saving a childrenās hospital in a poor area of the city), Walkenās noble intentions donāt seem to be enough to justify his ruthless ends, as he consolidates the drug trafficking trade and ruthlessly murders anyone who doesnāt play ball with him. The problem lies with the viewer not really knowing what makes Walken tick, what makes him want to do this good or any explanatory scene that helps us understand what heās thinking (perhaps an inner monologue wouldāve helped). Regardless, Ferrera deserves credit for not deifying the character, showing him and his cohorts (led by Laurence Fishburne) as scummy people who think that helping the kids naively might bring them some redemption. Fishburne contributes a colorful performance as the top enforcer for Walken, who does most of the dirty work while laughing manically. The filmās big twist is when the NYPD cops (led by David Caruso and Wesley Snipes), fed up with the way that Walken is committing murders willy-nilly and always gets let off by the court system, decide to go to war gangland style with Walken in the hopes that people will assume a rival gang took him out. Caruso is badass as hell by Caruso standards (unlike many of his other film roles where he comes off as weak) and Snipes is solid in an early turn for him, and the bond the cops share comes across as genuine despite their unethical actions. Indeed, the filmās greatest strength is in not having any real āgood guysā but instead portraying both sides with equal shades of gray. Also, once the ācops go vigilanteā dynamic comes into play, the film winds up having some truly hardcore violence, with almost every major player meeting a violent end. Credit should go to longtime character actor Victor Argo, in one of the best roles he ever had, as the older cop who wants no part of the violence but ultimately has to be the one who brings Walken down. The film also features Steve Buscemi in a role that seems curiously muted, and some of the actions the characters take could be seen as dumb and unrealistic but overall, while not even touching Scarface, Godfather, or Scorseseās work, a good, sometimes brutal addition to the crime genre of cinemaā¦
8/10