Suicide Kings (1997)

This mob film has it all
Christopher Walken is a former organized crime figure that gets kidnapped by a group of preppies that hold him for ransom. (This happens right up front in the story so I'm not giving anything away). The kidnappers realistically come off as bungling amateurs. Walken's presence is overwhelming (even duct taped to a chair) and he looms large over the whole story. Great perfomance. Throughout the film, the viewer keeps anticipating, "Somebody is going to really get hurt here". They do, of course.

The story has plenty of mystery and multiple twists. There are gruesome execution and mutilation scenes. It has laugh out loud comedy - special mention to Denis Leary and his "stingray boots". He plays a thug and is appropriately menacing and crude, but he is genuinely funny . . . even while brutally beating a man with a golf club. The R rating is appropriate.

A well written and directed film. Camera work a little unimaginative. Good sound.

If you are OK with the violence, you are guaranteed an entertaining experience with this film.

I Give This Film Five Cowbells
Is Christopher Walken the Man or what? For the first hour or so I thought Walken was essentially in paycheck mode deferring to his young co-stars(Jay Mohr, Henry Thomas, Johnny Golicki, et al), who aren't bad by the way, while he's duct-taped to a wheelchair slowly bleeding to death from a dismembered digit. Then the Walken-ator jumps into action and the wheels are in motion. You watch him size up his captors and turn the situation around to his advantage. Was there any doubt! As a bonus you also get Dennis Leary as an associate of Chris who shows the young turks that they're not ready to play with the big boys. You can say that "Suicide Kings" has a little bit of the Tarantino influence as well as "The Usual Suspects". There is enough originality in director Peter O'Fallon's film to differentiate it from it's predecessors. In a nutshell, "Walken fans, rejoice!"

I Give This Film Five Cowbells
Is Christopher Walken the Man or what? For the first hour or so I thought Walken was essentially in paycheck mode deferring to his young co-stars(Jay Mohr, Henry Thomas, Johnny Golicki, et al), who aren't bad by the way, while he's duct-taped to a wheelchair slowly bleeding to death from a dismembered digit. Then the Walken-ator jumps into action and the wheels are in motion. You watch him size up his captors and turn the situation around to his advantage. Was there any doubt! As a bonus you also get Dennis Leary as an associate of Chris who shows the young turks that they're not ready to play with the big boys. You can say that "Suicide Kings" has a little bit of the Tarantino influence as well as "The Usual Suspects". There is enough originality in director Peter O'Fallon's film to differentiate it from it's predecessors. In a nutshell, "Walken fans, rejoice!"