King Of New York

(Ferrara, 1990)

Christopher Walken is Frank White, a notorious drug kingpin recently released from prison who, without breaking stride, fully intends to make up for lost time. As premises go it’s far from original, but with Walken on sinister, serpentine form and a supporting cast of loud, nasty and unscrupulous bruisers from both sides of the law, King Of New York has enough in the way of raw ingredients to produce a darkly delicious experience overall.

The irrepressible White wastes no time in sending a message to anyone who might stand in his way, and those who refuse to deal on his terms soon find the alternative less than conducive to their long-term health. Here is a gangster who is supremely confident in his methods and his manpower, and for much of the film it seems like he may just be untouchable.

As his enemies try desperately to bring him down, White merely goes from strength to strength. He uses his ill-gotten fortune to nurture a facade of respectability, infuriating the authorities and driving them to extreme lengths. Frank would exploit the law to see himself elected mayor, while his foes would forsake it to see him dead.

The film is as stylish as you might expect from Abel Ferrara, but all the beautifully dingy scenes of rain-swept streets and sweeping shots over the neon-lit New York skyline can’t cover up the fact we’re expected to take what we’re seeing at face value, without questioning the often baffling premise and storyline turns.

If you simply allow yourself to be caught up in the wake of Frank White’s manic slash-and-burn across New York by night, chances are you’ll have a really good time watching this film. A young Laurence (here billed as Larry) Fishburne puts in an excellent turn as Walken’s psychotic right-hand man, and David Caruso is highly entertaining as a hot-headed cop determined to dethrone the King of New York no matter what the cost.

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tl;dr: Noisy, violent and debauched, King Of New York is a modern day Robin Hood story as told by an artisan of grimy immorality. Walken is mesmerising even when he stars in turkeys, but here he puts on one of the most formidably intense showings of his career. It might not make a lot of sense at times, but for fans of hard-edged gangster films, this is a must-see.

Snatch

(Ritchie, 2000)

For his second full-length film, Guy Ritchie obviously thought it best not to deviate too greatly from the winning formula of his wildly successful debut, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Some might argue he barely deviated at all. Once again, there’s an expensive piece of treasure that everyone wants and once again, there’s a veritable army of twitchy sociopaths tearing Old London Town apart in order to put their hands on it.

The budget is bigger this time around, but so too is the cast. Whereas Lock, Stock gave us a manageable number of crooks, thugs and gangsters to chase around, Snatch liberally piles bodies into the mix. You only really need to pay attention to maybe three or four of them; the rest, it seems, are simply there to act as comic foils or swear at opportune moments.

Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones more or less made their careers off the back of Lock, Stock…‘s success, and with Snatch it stands to reason that Ritchie knew Hollywood would be paying close attention this time around. To this end, Statham and Jones reprise their roles from Lock, Stock… in everything but name: Jones with his car-vs-skull brutishness and Statham with his laconic smart-assery. Neither were particularly good in this film, but it doesn’t seem to have done them any harm in the long run.

On its own merits, Snatch is decent enough; it’s very funny in parts, and some of the cast give great performances. Brad Pitt, in particular, puts on a hell of a show as an indecipherable bare-knuckle gypsy boxing champion. Elsewhere, though, otherwise strong performances are made underwhelming by the insertion of laborious monologues and needless posturing.

The story skips merrily along, pitching us the kind of plot twists that made Lock, Stock… great. The soundtrack, too, is just as strong as its predecessor’s. The film oozes style, but in parts the effect is scuppered by the feeling that it knows how stylish it is. We’re supposed to be impressed by this, but really it would have been a lot more impressive if Snatch had ended up more than a tarted-up facsimile of what had come before.

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tl;dr: Snatch is more polished, louder and more crowded than its gritty forerunner. The overall effect, though, is of a director who seems merely to be going through the motions. The film would have been far punchier were it not for the abundance of pointless dialogue. A shame, really, because in places this film is actually pretty entertaining.

Born To Kill

(Wise, 1947)

Also known as “Lady Of Deceit” in the UK.

Some filmmakers go to great lengths to produce characters of great depth, complexity and unpredictability of intent. Some you can read a mile off, but at least the writer has the good grace to provide you with the odd bit of double-dealing and bluff.

Then there are films like Born To Kill, where the players are painted with such broad strokes as to make their motives transparent as a cat rubbing up against your leg every time you go anywhere near the kitchen. This is murder, avarice and blackmail by numbers.

That’s not to say that Born To Kill is a bad film. On the contrary, it’s sometimes quite nice to know exactly where you stand with characters: a hulking psychopath who will not only do whatever it takes to get what he wants, but will openly admit it to anyone who asks; a gold-digging coquette who is happy to use anyone who puts their trust in her; and a morally vacuous private investigator willing to sell out everyone in sight to achieve a better profit.

The morality of Born To Kill is almost exclusively black and white. Characters exist to exploit or be exploited, and betrayal is never more than a phone call away. Lawrence Tierney’s character is the destructive force that drives the film, and while he is rather one-dimensional, his frank callousness and barely-concealed rage give him credibility as an irredeemable noir heel.

The story, while not especially complex, keeps you guessing as to which, if any of the deeply unpleasant characters will come out on top in the end. This isn’t deep enough to qualify as noir at its best, but is definitely worth a watch for the entertaining individual performances and the unflinching fatalism of the narrative.

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tl;dr: A film ahead of its time in terms of the gritty unpleasantness of its seedy little world, Born To Kill is enjoyable, stock film noir with an uncomplicated plot and three wickedly depraved central characters.