Do you like Christopher Walken? See Suicide Kings. Do you like Denis Leary? See Suicide Kings. Do I need to give more reasons? Fine, but you are wasting time that could be better spent watching Suicide Kings.
Suicide Kings is a movie about a group of smug, self-satisfied, privileged punks who decide to kidnap Charlie, a retired and revered mafia boss, played by Walken, to get his help and money in retrieving one of their own who was kidnapped for ransom. Chaos ensues, and things are more complex than imagined or seem. There are equally interesting side stories involving Charlie’s driver and those who have benefitted from Charlie’s view of justice.
Suicide Kings floats on the energy and charisma of the actors. If you like them, you’ll like it and be willing to overlook Suicide Kings’ flaws. Walken does not rest on his laurels here, but uses every acting and charm muscle in his repertoire. Leary improvised almost every scene in Suicide Kings!
Suicide Kings is far from a perfect story. There are a lot of unresolved threads. Why is Jay Mohr’s character so anti-Charlie and his ilk? What vile thing did Charlie reference as a reason for his actions in Jay’s story? Also I missed two narrative elements, which I blame on myself, not the writers (perhaps incorrectly): I understand that Charlie never takes off the ring and if he does, watch out, but why is the ring important to Charlie AND how did his driver find Charlie? The end is admittedly a product of a focus group, which was a big mistake. I did not think that it felt like something that Charlie would do considering how he and his driver behaved in the past.
Suicide Kings evokes the Walken of Pulp Fiction fame and belongs in a growing category of films in which powerful men are tied up by lesser men such as Swimming with Sharks. Unfortunately to viewers at the time, Suicide Kings did not benefit from these associations, but was seen as derivative and did not do well in the box office. On behalf of US, I’m sorry!