Suicide Kings (1998)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

You're not missing much story wise, if that's all you're interested in. Instead the story sets the context for that strange protagonist switch that starts to evolve throughout the movie, culminating in what I thought was a brutally efficient thought-provoker above that of the Warhol Soup Can.Yeah I just praised this movies sense of art more so than a widely respected and acclaimed cultural icon. Sue me.Starring the kid from Rosanne was a nice touch I thought, his character is so pitiful its hard not to feel bad for him, and he conveys that pretty well... Giving a stark contrast between the seemingly ignorant yet vicious character played by Jay Mohr, as well as the seemingly compassionate yet troubled character played by Jeremy Sisto.... Walken does Walken tied down in a chair most of the flick. 'Nuff said. No really, you *know* he's mafioso, yet the situation he's in could make one ponder that his motives are actually true and just... Not just the typical ruthless mobster. Hence the protagonist switch.It's that thought alone that brings a lot of artistic value to this film. I thought about pre-judgement and true common sense. That's the artistic quality of a painting, right? It evokes thought, and emotion...On that note, some of the acting is pretty unbelievable, but the usual contrast by a more talented actor makes the emotional twist of this movie sink in a bit.Not a film for the ages, but this should be watched in film studies. The movie itself conveys the same thought I mentioned previously: It's so campy and low budget, yet keeps you hooked with the awesomeness of Leary and Walken. And now that you've bitten, the movie delivers on a promise that you thought it couldn't make.Post-Modernity :D

This is certainly a movie for switching off the brain and cutting it a bit of slack. The story is unbelievable. The plan hatched by the rich kids isn't even half baked, They are sloppy, careless and idiotic to believe that they can rectify one kidnapping scenario by themselves kidnapping an infamous mobster. Then they cut off one of his fingers! No face masks, names and personal details revealed they get whats coming to them.Suicide Kings is close to a one man show. This is Walken at his supreme best. Angry , menacing, ice cold and funny. Often all at the same time. He carries the movie so much that it is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. The weakest characters for me were the two gangsters used by the insider for the initial kidnap. They were just too screwball even for a black comedy like this. Their humour was forced and unnatural while the rest of the comedy flowed. Spoiled for me what otherwise would have been a perfect 10.

Chritopher Walken is an ex mob boss who is kidnapped by three spoiled, rich kids, who explain that one of them, Avery's sister has been taken hostage, and that the guys responsible want 2 million dollars for her release. They show Charlie(Walken) a pinkey finger floating in a bowl of ice, and threaten him with the same, not realizing that he would bleed to death, due to a medical condition. Things are not as they seem, as Charlie manipulates the boys against each other. He uncovers the fact of a bad gambling debt which was the reason for the ransom demand in the first place. Negotiations lead to a very clever twist in the story, which I will not give away and Christopher Walken is perfect as the bad man who tells the wannabee gangsters, at one point, I'm looking at dead men. The movie is loosely based on the case of some young rich guys in Westchester County who ran a multimillion dollar gambling and money laundering ring. Truth is stranger than fiction, and here it makes for interesting entertainment.

I admit I only saw this movie because it starred Christopher Walken and I figured it would at least be worth the time. And sure enough... I liked it. Sure, there were more then a few strange holes in the plot. And sure, you won't be seeing any Oscar-worthy performances. But I enjoyed it nonetheless goddammit! Sometimes you just have to watch a movie without overanalysing it and just enjoy the ride. I guess one of the things you could get hung up on is the fact that the whole set-up for the movie depends on the fact whether a mob-boss chooses to get in a car with a gang of youngsters he's never seen before to join for dinner with one of their fathers. A bit hard to swallow I'll admit. But hey, if you accept that someone could acquire superpowers by getting bitten by a radioactive spider this is a small leap of faith. Anyway, there are more of these strange irregularities in the script but I'll take a few strange coincidences for the sake of a good movie. What I'm having a harder time dealing with is the strange tone. It's like the director couldn't make up his mind whether to make it a dark comedy or a thriller/gangster film. Now it just sort of stumbles in between. A shame really, because it is a great set up with a rather unusual hostage situation where the hostage gradually takes control of and turns the tables on his kidnappers. In the right hands this could have been a fantastic movie instead of just a good one.6/10