Willa's Flic Pic: Suicide Kings * * * ½

Suicide Kings
1997, Peter O’Fallen
Drama/Mystery
* * * ½



Charlie Barret: A number of times, the only thing that kept me out of a satin box was that I could size up the other guy maybe half a second quicker than he could me.
Brett Campbell: [laughing] What the f--- are you talking about? You're taped to a chair!

I'm not a fan of mobster movies. I've never seen The Godfather, Scarface or Goodfellas. But I am a big Christopher Walken fan. Suicide Kings is a great Walken film and a different kind of mobster movie.

Mob movies are all about the mobsters, their enemies, one guy in a white hat, and a love triangle. It's a fish bowl and just not very interesting. The conflict in Suicide Kings throws into juxtaposition those in the mob world and those outside of it.

Charlie Barret (Walken) is a former mob boss - very respected and congenial but still not someone you would mess with. Enter five stupid young rich college guys. With illusions of grandeur and more money than sense, they kidnap Barret because they have a problem and he has connections. The sister of one of the kidnappers… has been kidnapped. From Barret they hope to get the $2 million dollar ransom to save her life.

Most of the action with Barret and the kidnappers occurs at the estate of one the kidnappers. Although Barret is tied up, drugged and outnumbered five to one, it doesn't take long to realize who is really in control of the situation as the five begin to break down. They are guppies and they've jumped into a fish bowl full of sharks.

Charlie Barret: You guys didn't think this through too good, did you?

Denis Leary plays Barret's muscle, Lono Veccio, who offers up comic relief and a lot of violence and profanity. He operates purely in the criminal world of the film and gives you just enough insight into mob business to make you feel like you know a little too much. He's trying to rescue Barret and figure out who's behind the kidnapping of the sister.

The film has a couple of decent twists and there's an alternate ending. Be sure and watch this and decide for yourself, which you like best and which one seems more logical. Walken and Leary deliver expected performances. They alone make this worth renting. Walken exhibits power, cunning and intimidation while mostly being tied to a chair. Leary delivers a very satisfying level of action.

Trivia: Christopher Walken is a great cook and trained dancer. In fact, he tries to insert a dance step in every one of his films. If you ever just want to smile, check out Walken in Fat Boy Slim's music video, Weapon of Choice, for which he won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for choreography.