Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Claudio Carvalho When the drug kingpin Frank White (Christopher Walken) is released from the prison, his gang under the command of his henchman Jimmy Jump (Larry Fishburne) and he murder the competition. Frank and his girlfriend Counsellor Jennifer (Janet Julian) frequent political parties and he decides to modernize the hospital of his old neighborhood using part of his profits dealing drugs. But the rogue cops under the leadership of Dennis Gilley (David Caruso) and Thomas Flanigan (Wesley Snipes) decide to eliminate Frank White and his gang simulating an attack by a rival gang despite the protest of their leader, Detective Roy Bishop (Victor Argo). "King of New York" is a crime film directed by Abel Ferrara with a great cast, with names such as Wesley Snipes, Laurence Fishburne and Steve Buscemi in the beginning of career. Christopher Walken performs an interesting character, a drug lord that believes he is a businessman and a sort of modern Robin Hood trying to benefit his former poor neighborhood before he dies. The showdown in the conclusion is expected and fits perfectly to the story. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Rei de Nova York" ("The King of New York")

Predrag It's blend of grim urban landscapes, clever intelligent plot and visceral action puts it miles ahead of almost any other crime movie you care to name, and it can stand with it's head held high as a classic on a par with the greats of the late 80's thru 90's gangster movies era. The characters are richly drawn and morally ambiguous in a fashion that makes it far more realistic than other crime films, as the cops are just as crooked as the gangsters, if not more, and you find yourself rooting for Walken and Fishburne throughout, as main cop Caruso is a nasty vile character despite being on 'the right side of the law'. Speaking of which the acting from the three leads is absolutely fantastic. Walken and Caruso are as charismatic and mesmerizing as ever, but it's the young Fishburne (previous to this, he had had few leads in movies) who amazes as the hip young drug dealer, and almost steals Walken's show. But make no mistake, it is Walken's show. His presence in this movie is riveting, and he manages to make the psychotic Frank believable as a man trying to do right somehow through his twisted system of morals. You don't want to sympathize with him but somehow Walken makes you, and this is the movie's greatest achievement.The cast features major dynamic performances from actors such as Lawrence Fishburne, David Caruso and Wesley Snipes. Fishburne turns in a virtuoso performance, whether gunning down the opposition with a revolver blazing in each hand, or ordering chicken, ribs, fish with tartar sauce and hold the potato salad. Even the smallest roles are vivid, featuring bits from Steve Buscemi, John Tuturro and Paul Calderon, among others. Victor Argo plays Frank's nemesis, tired and honorable Detective Roy Bishop, excellently. Towering over them all is a fascinating, dominating performance by Christopher Walken. He doesn't show much emotion from Frank about anything. Still, "I never killed anybody who didn't deserve it.". He's right, in a queasy kind of way. Walken's Frank White dominates the movie. It's one of Walken's best performances.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Othy59 Christopher Walken stars in this great, if a little uneven, crime film by controversial director Abel Ferrara (Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant).It tells the story of Frank White, a crime lord who, after being released from prison, makes a violent campaign to reclaim his empire in order to use his ill-gotten gain for charitable means in this modern twist on the Robin Hood mythos. At the same time a core group of New York cops are all over him and his gang, determined to go to war, whatever the cost, to bring him down which leads to a violent climax.In a break from the usual cops and robber movie the line between crook and cop are a little blurry here. Sure Walken's character is a crook who kills people and then goes to parties laden with cocaine and sex, but he kills other scum bags and tries to use his new found freedom to do good things for charity. He's a character who is using his empire as a means to do what he feels is the right thing and raise a poor community up from its poor roots.The cops on the other hand believe that a crook, will forever be a crook. As David Caruso's (CSI: Miami joke here) character aptly puts, that the more people he kills the more it reflects badly on the cops whilst no matter what they do to stop Frank, he always gets away scot-free. I can definitely see the positives and negatives from both sides as they can be both as bad and both as justifiable in their actions. Really well thought out stuff when you think about it, and this was a film made 12 years before the Wire (which I've still got to finish watching).Though while I do say it's uneven I still hold to that. Some bits feel a little rushed in pacing and even the lawyer girlfriend to Frank White seems to vanish into thin air during the third act of the film.But despite being a low budget film, it is still a pretty good looking film with an impressive cast (including Lawrence Fishburn, Wesley Snipes and David Caruso) who play their parts really well. I did have a few niggling problems, mostly with the sound though that could attribute to the copy of the film I had. But the climax of this film is where it's really at as everything that has been building up to this comes to an exciting head.It's such a shame that this film has been so over looked, I mean I only really found out about it through Christopher Walken's film list. It deserves a lot more credit.

tomgillespie2002 Crime lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) is released from prison, and on his long drive back to New York City, witnesses the filth his city has descended into since his incarceration. His old friend Jimmy Jump (Laurence Fishburne) has just wiped out a Colombian drug operation and welcomes Frank back with a suitcase full of money and cocaine. Eager to win his city back, and also help fund the saving of an inner city hospital through his drug operation, he sets the wheels to his crowning in motion. But cops Roy Bishop (Victor Argo), Gilley (David Caruso) and Flanigan (Wesley Snipes) are on his case, but after struggling to bring Frank in under regulations, resort to more illegal methods of getting him off the streets.King of New York was booed upon its initial screenings, with mass walk- outs and cult director Abel Ferrara being bombarded with uncomfortable questions. Audiences were apparently appalled by the films seemingly glamorous depiction of man who was essentially a homicidal maniac, encouraging violence and sleaze wherever he went. The film is certainly guilty of that, but the character of Frank is a little different to the likes of Tony Montana or Henry Hill. He seems to style himself as a champion of the lower-classes, using his influence and vast wealth to push a councilman to put forth the money to save a hospital in a poverty-stricken area, and then fund it himself when that fails. He and his girlfriend Jennifer (Janet Julian) are robbed on the subway by inner-city youths. Frank shown them his gun, and they back off, but Frank throws them a wad of money and tells them there is work for them if they want it. A crime-lord he may be, but is he any worse than the fat politicians that soak up the city's money, or the bent cops that are on his back?In Walken's hands, White is a charismatic, unconventional crime boss, and is in turns charming, strange, and deranged. It's a fabulous performance, but for me it was Laurence (here still credited as Larry) Fishburne that steals the show, as the swaggering, loud-mouthed gun-man Jimmy ("yo, where the chicken at?" he says after killing a cop), a man of such ridiculous posturing that he almost becomes a cartoon character. And this is one of the main reasons I loved this film. It is, at times, so outlandishly over-the-top that it should betray its gritty roots, but its so steeped in atmosphere and that key element, grime, that it becomes a fantasy-laden, insane ride amongst a decaying city and one its most colourful characters.For anyone who has seen the work of Abel Ferrara, especially two of his most popular films, The Driller Killer (1979) and Bad Lieutenant (1992), will know what they are in for. His New York is not the one you see in the earlier works of Woody Allen, but one of whacked-out prostitutes, cocaine-sniffing criminals, inner-city poverty, and angry, sweaty, middle-aged detectives. We do glimpse the glitzier side of the city in King of New York, as Frank often mingles with the politicians and power- players, but it is a world of black suits and orange lighting, and a world that shares the same depravity and sleaze as the lower-classes. It's a grim thing to see through Abel Ferrara's gaze, but boy is it brimming with atmosphere. This will always play second or third fiddle to the likes of Scarface (1983), but King of New York is the film the former could never be, and in its own depressing way, is a much better film. Undoubtedly Ferrara's finest, and most 'polished' work.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com