I had high hopes for this movie, considering its strong casting. But sadly, it fails to deliver.
I don't know if the movie got slashed in post production, or it was simply poorly written, but the end result is a film which feels very rushed, with numerous scenes missing. It seems like Hensleigh is so terrified of the movie feeling slow, that he goes to the extreme in the opposite direction.
In what seems like the first 20 minutes of the movie, the main character goes from a struggling longshoreman, to being the head of the union, to getting married to some random waitress, to being locked up, to suddenly being an informant, and ending up as a low level gangster again. Oh, and somewhere in all of this he saves someone - I suppose a friend - from some loan shark, but it's not entirely clear why or how, although it for some reason becomes a big plot point later on. It's probably due to sloppy writing.
Everything is portrayed in very short scenes in a pattern of "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened". The problem with this technique is that we never really get to know the main character, his motivations, his relations to the supporting characters (his crew and antagonists) and not to mention his first wife.
This isn't "Transformers" where the audience might be content with seeing some massive explosions and robots beating the crud out of each other. For this movie to be enjoyable, and actually make sense, we have to at least know and care a little bit for our characters.
Compare "Kill the Irishman" to "Goodfellas", a movie which obviously have been a strong influence on this film (not to mention the opening car explosion, which is taken almost beat by beat from "Casino").
"Goodfellas" is a full 40 minutes longer than "Kill the Irishman", but never gets dull. On the other hand, it rather feels faster paced than "Kill the Irishman". But we need those extra 40 minutes, because it gives us time to get explore the points listed above.
"Kill the Irishman" feels like wasted opportunity.
It could have been a "Heat" style film, exploring the relationship between Ray Stevenson and Val Kilmer's characters. But no.
It could have explored the tension between being a snitch and having the life of crime as the only realistic way of life. But no.
It could have been a rise-and-fall mafia style movie like "Goodfellas" or "Scarface" or even "American Gangster". But no.
It could have been a gritty look at the life of crime, kind of like a reverse "Narc". But no.
This movie can't decide what type of film it is, so it tries to be all of them at once, which is a recipe for failure.
It's a shame considering the talented cast, which has very little to work with in this garbled mess of a film.
I don't know if the movie got slashed in post production, or it was simply poorly written, but the end result is a film which feels very rushed, with numerous scenes missing. It seems like Hensleigh is so terrified of the movie feeling slow, that he goes to the extreme in the opposite direction.
In what seems like the first 20 minutes of the movie, the main character goes from a struggling longshoreman, to being the head of the union, to getting married to some random waitress, to being locked up, to suddenly being an informant, and ending up as a low level gangster again. Oh, and somewhere in all of this he saves someone - I suppose a friend - from some loan shark, but it's not entirely clear why or how, although it for some reason becomes a big plot point later on. It's probably due to sloppy writing.
Everything is portrayed in very short scenes in a pattern of "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened". The problem with this technique is that we never really get to know the main character, his motivations, his relations to the supporting characters (his crew and antagonists) and not to mention his first wife.
This isn't "Transformers" where the audience might be content with seeing some massive explosions and robots beating the crud out of each other. For this movie to be enjoyable, and actually make sense, we have to at least know and care a little bit for our characters.
Compare "Kill the Irishman" to "Goodfellas", a movie which obviously have been a strong influence on this film (not to mention the opening car explosion, which is taken almost beat by beat from "Casino").
"Goodfellas" is a full 40 minutes longer than "Kill the Irishman", but never gets dull. On the other hand, it rather feels faster paced than "Kill the Irishman". But we need those extra 40 minutes, because it gives us time to get explore the points listed above.
"Kill the Irishman" feels like wasted opportunity.
It could have been a "Heat" style film, exploring the relationship between Ray Stevenson and Val Kilmer's characters. But no.
It could have explored the tension between being a snitch and having the life of crime as the only realistic way of life. But no.
It could have been a rise-and-fall mafia style movie like "Goodfellas" or "Scarface" or even "American Gangster". But no.
It could have been a gritty look at the life of crime, kind of like a reverse "Narc". But no.
This movie can't decide what type of film it is, so it tries to be all of them at once, which is a recipe for failure.
It's a shame considering the talented cast, which has very little to work with in this garbled mess of a film.