christopher-underwood Fabulous, fast and furious whilst looking wonderful with bright lights, dark shadows and a lot of violence. Abel Ferrara may talk about not wanting arty lighting and fancy camerawork to get in the way but he either makes sure he has people doing this for him or he just can't help himself. However many involved in a shoot out, however many cars racing across a bridge, however complicated the street or big restaurant scene is and however much blood is spilt, it always looks good. Just about ever frame is perfect and if we can't always make out the dialogue for the noise of the traffic, the soundtrack or or buzz of a bunch of diners, it is a joy to look at. Not much of a story but the director brings together many people who would go on to work with the likes of Tarantino and produces a film that looks and sounds 'real' even if as Abel might have his doubts. Christopher Walked is magnificent, worrying, likeable, crazy and child like, he dominates the film, which has to accommodate his illogical seeming logic.

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")

Scott LeBrun Working with his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Nicholas St. John, NYC based independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara uses the city as the backdrop for a memorably seedy and garishly lit story of cops and hoods, focusing on a veteran crime lord named Frank White (Christopher Walken).Frank's been out of the game for a long time due to a prison stretch, and now he's developed some sense of morality. Assisted by a mostly black crew, he sets about brutally eliminating his rivals, intending to spend the money he makes on improving his neighbourhood. Naturally, there's a team of detectives (among them, characters played by David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, and Victor Argo) out to get him.Ferrara, as could be expected, has a great sense of style, nicely capturing the look of his locations. The score by Joe Delia complements the visuals created by a team including cinematographer Bojan Bazelli. Granted, the movie is very grim and gritty stuff, and it may be too violent for some tastes, but it's gripping as hell and the characters are all compulsively watchable.Walken is understated in the lead role, and surrounded by good actors. In fact, there's a lot of familiar faces in the cast. In addition to those mentioned, Laurence Fishburne (displaying a magnetic presence as a drug abusing thug), Janet Julian, Giancarlo Esposito, Paul Calderon, Steve Buscemi, Theresa Randle, Roger Guenveur Smith, Frank Adonis, Vanessa Angel, Robert LaSardo, James Lorinz, and Harold Perrineau all turn up as well, making this fun to watch.One especially great sequence takes place in the rain during the aftermath of an assault on Whites' compound. The movie begins well and keeps moving fast (it's 104 minutes long, but it doesn't feel like it) with one entertaining scene after another, and in the end it packs a pretty hard punch.Highly recommended to fans of crime fiction.Eight out of 10.

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