King of New York (1990)'s comments

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MKej

Room service, motherfuckers!

10 years 8 months ago

The opening credit sequence after the execution is one of my favorite pieces of cinema ever. The music of Joe Delia, arranging Vivaldi compositions, deepens the sadness of the urban nightmare, where prostitutes, pimps, junkies and gangstas hide in the shadows, stalking the night like ghouls; the ambiance of the battered train, distorted Hip Hop, and voices in the dark further enhance the feeling of being in a complete disaster zone; but the masterstroke: how Ferrara juggles these images and sounds with Walken's face of utter melancholy as he smokes a cigarette. A complete masterpiece; the film could end there and I would be happy.

10 years 10 months ago

V012

A gritty underrated classic Gangster film with Walken

11 years 3 months ago

Torgo

Darkness, violence, nihilism. The run-of-the-mill gangster plot and some flaws in the execution can't keep the gritty vision of Abel Ferrara from being quite captivating.

2 years 2 months ago

MMDan

"Welcome home, fuck face."

8 years 11 months ago

Siskoid

In Abel Ferrara's world, cops are the bad guys and gangsters might be the good guys, and I see King of New York as the mirror reflection of his later Bad Lieutenant. The movie asks whether the only response to a crooked system isn't lawlessness, but a more altruistic, community-driven lawlessness. Ferrara doesn't evoke Robin Hood himself, but many reviews do, and they're quite right (though few versions of Sherwood Forest would dare be this bloody). The result is a gorgeous neo-noir with sumptuous night photography and a great performance from Christopher Walken. And at 103 minutes, it's an efficient package that outperforms Scorsese and Tarantino through brevity. King of New York makes its point and gets out, but still feels as rich and full as any higher-profile crime picture. Perhaps by 1990, we all knew the tropes and didn't need for everything to be spelled out in a 2½+ hour epic, but whatever the case may be, Ferrara leaves us wanting more, which is not a bad effect to have.

2 years 10 months ago