STATE OF GRACE tells more or less the same story as a more recent film on the same theme. It's Irish hooligans, known as The Westies, versus the Italian mob in the old Hell's Kitchen, an area that today is gentrified and known as the much nicer-sounding Clinton. In real life, most of the Westies eventually ended up in jail, as documented in a NEW YORK magazine article some years ago that became the basis for the more recent movie. In the case of STATE OF GRACE, the boy-os meet a much less refined end. Sean Penn stars as an undercover cop returning to his old crime-ridden neighborhood. His best pal is Jackie (Gary Oldman), the crazy younger brother of Irish gang lord Frankie (Ed Harris). It's an old story, as Jackie shoots first and asks questions later, and almost forces the two groups into a war. Penn is OK as the cop but Oldman is something else, a strangely likable but truly dangerous maniac who may remind movie buffs of his role as a crooked, homicidal narc in THE PROFESSIONAL. Director Phil "GRIDIRON GANG" Joanou directs with a sure hand until the final, unnecessary and improbable slow-mo shootout, which drags the film down a notch. Until then, STATE OF GRACE is clear sailing as a gangster flick that may have escaped many people's notice the first time around.
Review of State of Grace
