![image.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515075396/xxemzvrptvrnvn0ceccz.png)

*Suicide Kings* is a complex tale of betrayal.  When a young woman is kidnapped, her brother and his friends develop a half-baked plot to kidnap a mob boss to extort her ransom money.  But everything is not exactly as it appears. <br> <br> Carlo Bartolucci (Christopher Walken) is a mafia boss that ascended to power through his propensity for violence.  As he has gotten older, he has mellowed a bit.  Bartolucci is more of a businessman with legit money sources than a mafia thug.  When he encounters a group of young men at his local watering hole, he makes the mistake of getting into a car with them to visit  a mutual friend. 

![image.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515075495/kjl3fgtk2ggqnsmdvm6i.png)

Bartolucci wakes up taped to a chair.  The young men explain to him that a girl has been kidnapped and that a ransom has been demanded.  Two million dollars.  The men want Bartolucci to use his considerable connections to help find the girl, or those who have kidnapped her, so she can be returned safely.  Bartolucci gets his best man, Lono (Denis Leary) to work locating the girl.  When Bartolucci advises the young men that it was an inside job, their suspicions against each other become stirred.  A few substantial plot twists later, we learn the truth. 

![image.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515075575/t7gfaqmvi5jihztq0b4p.png)

I will give *Suicide Kings* credit for creativity.  While the story relies heavily on elements of chance lining up properly, it manages to keep the audience guessing.  I thought I had figured out the story several times when another twist would develop.  The film had a nice sense of continuity to help tie the elements together.  However, the writers had so much fun with the twists and turns that they neglected the characters.  The film has a two-dimensional feel because the characters were so under-developed.  While the film had some decent suspense, it was also sluggish at times.  Some of the scenes were tediously slow. 

![image.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515075646/v5xaslhpx3jtjpefsqih.png)

Flat characters can still manage to connect with an audience when cast properly.  Walken and Leary were phenomenal.  Walken's character may have been the most developed, giving a sense of maturity while the violence that propelled him to mob boss lingers just beneath the surface.  Leary is almost comical at times.  His character has issues, but he is good at the mob part.  The rest of the cast was decent but not exceptional.  None of the kidnappers really stood out to me with an exceptional performance. 

![image.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515075837/q5ogj9wfdez74ybnxuc5.png)

*Suicide Kings* seems tame as far as R rated movies go.  There are some shootings, which aren't graphic.  The most graphic violence is probably a scene where a finger is cut off.  The film had a brief sex scene and some nudity.  Drinking, drug use, forced medication and language round out the elements that one might find objectionable.  All of these factors were contextual to the story.  For a mob film, this one wasn't graphically violent.  Teenager and above should be fine with this one. 

I enjoyed Walken and Leary in this film.  The plot twists and overall story were actually appealing, as well.  The character development and pacing kept me from fully enjoying the film.  The pacing wasn't horrible, but there were a couple of brief tedious stretches.  The character development was probably the worst aspect.  While we get a bit of background on Bartolucci, the rest of the cast are cardboard cut-outs. *Suicide Kings* is a decent suspense film with enough good qualities to merit a recommendation.  6.5/10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnxUzwvHE8w