"Suicide Kings" successfully blends suspense, violence and humour and is absolutely gripping right from the start because the whole notion of a group of college students kidnapping a senior Mafioso with the intention of extorting money from him is so crazy that seeing what happens next just becomes totally irresistible. It's a strange experience for most movie fans to watch this type of film and actually feel more concerned about what's going to happen to the kidnappers rather than the victim, but that's exactly what happens in this tense, but also hilarious crime story.
Charlie Barret (Christopher Walken) is the retired mob boss who used to be known as Carlo Bartolucci and who, one night, seemingly by chance, meets a few young men at a smart restaurant and at their request, agrees to carry on socialising at another venue. During their car journey, Charlie is chloroformed and wakes up in a remote mansion tied to a chair. His three new friends, Avery (Henry Thomas), Max (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Brett (Jay Mohr) have, by this stage, been joined by T.K. (Jeremy Sisto), a medical student who keeps Charlie under sedation for most of the time. He's told that Avery's sister Elise (Laura Harris) has been kidnapped and a ransom of $2,000,000 has been demanded for her release. As Avery's father can't raise that much cash, Charlie's captors want him to pay up and use his connections to hunt down Elise's abductors.
Charlie is horrified to discover that one of his fingers has been cut off to reflect what's apparently been done to Elise and is threatened with further amputations if any more of Elise's body parts are removed. Shortly after, the four students are joined by their friend Ira (Johnny Galecki), whose father owns the place and has arrived for a pre-arranged game of poker as he didn't know anything about the planned kidnapping. On being confronted by the sight of a man (who he recognises as a mobster) being held hostage and bleeding profusely, he gets incredibly upset and distressed about the mess that's being made in such fine surroundings and wants nothing to do with what's going on. Charlie then decides to play along with the gang's instructions and contacts his lawyer who then directs the former mob boss' long-time enforcer, Lono (Denis Leary) to find out where he's being held and Lono begins his work immediately.
As Charlie and his captors chat and they serve him drinks, he recognises that what's happened to Elise must be an inside job and then uses this knowledge to disconcert the students and promote disunity in their ranks. This situation then sets the scene for the series of surprising events and discoveries that follow.
"Suicide Kings" is tremendously entertaining, brilliantly twisted and full of excellent performances. The casting is absolutely top class with the selection of Christopher Walken, Denis Leary and Johnny Galecki for their roles being prime examples. Charlie is a man with an ability to read people that's been developed over many years and has been critical to his survival, so when it comes to mind games, his naïve captors are not even in the same league as him. This naturally causes him some amusement and the way that he shows this whilst also emitting an air of menace is really wonderful to watch.
As a no-nonsense thug, Leary's punchy delivery is perfect whether he's making threats or wisecracks and Galecki is so frantic, jittery and nervous all the time that he makes his character absolutely believable and adds immensely to the enjoyment of watching this fine film.
Charlie Barret (Christopher Walken) is the retired mob boss who used to be known as Carlo Bartolucci and who, one night, seemingly by chance, meets a few young men at a smart restaurant and at their request, agrees to carry on socialising at another venue. During their car journey, Charlie is chloroformed and wakes up in a remote mansion tied to a chair. His three new friends, Avery (Henry Thomas), Max (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Brett (Jay Mohr) have, by this stage, been joined by T.K. (Jeremy Sisto), a medical student who keeps Charlie under sedation for most of the time. He's told that Avery's sister Elise (Laura Harris) has been kidnapped and a ransom of $2,000,000 has been demanded for her release. As Avery's father can't raise that much cash, Charlie's captors want him to pay up and use his connections to hunt down Elise's abductors.
Charlie is horrified to discover that one of his fingers has been cut off to reflect what's apparently been done to Elise and is threatened with further amputations if any more of Elise's body parts are removed. Shortly after, the four students are joined by their friend Ira (Johnny Galecki), whose father owns the place and has arrived for a pre-arranged game of poker as he didn't know anything about the planned kidnapping. On being confronted by the sight of a man (who he recognises as a mobster) being held hostage and bleeding profusely, he gets incredibly upset and distressed about the mess that's being made in such fine surroundings and wants nothing to do with what's going on. Charlie then decides to play along with the gang's instructions and contacts his lawyer who then directs the former mob boss' long-time enforcer, Lono (Denis Leary) to find out where he's being held and Lono begins his work immediately.
As Charlie and his captors chat and they serve him drinks, he recognises that what's happened to Elise must be an inside job and then uses this knowledge to disconcert the students and promote disunity in their ranks. This situation then sets the scene for the series of surprising events and discoveries that follow.
"Suicide Kings" is tremendously entertaining, brilliantly twisted and full of excellent performances. The casting is absolutely top class with the selection of Christopher Walken, Denis Leary and Johnny Galecki for their roles being prime examples. Charlie is a man with an ability to read people that's been developed over many years and has been critical to his survival, so when it comes to mind games, his naïve captors are not even in the same league as him. This naturally causes him some amusement and the way that he shows this whilst also emitting an air of menace is really wonderful to watch.
As a no-nonsense thug, Leary's punchy delivery is perfect whether he's making threats or wisecracks and Galecki is so frantic, jittery and nervous all the time that he makes his character absolutely believable and adds immensely to the enjoyment of watching this fine film.