Frank White (Christopher Walken) leaves prison and sets out to reclaim his title of King of New York, living in the world of gangsters in the time of the late 80's. He's going to do this by killing the opposition and stealing their drugs to sell so he can, in Robin Hood fashion, fund a hospital for kids and poorer people.
In this Abel Ferrara film we enter a world filled with polar opposites in terms of wealth, opening shots of homelessness as Frank drives by in his Limo, drug fuelled parties across from luxury dining. This helps build a world layered with parallels known by adults at the time this was released in America, and looking back now we can see the reflection of the real world within. We also have the generic ethnicity of gangs, Black, Asian, Mexican and Italian.
Guns, Drugs, Corruption, Power and Money are the main themes throughout the film. there is plenty of blood and deaths, shown in almost comedic splatter style. Included are the generic no nonsense badass cops played by David Caruso and Wesley Snipes, who come across as arseholes that we are supposed to sympathise with, and I do... kind of.
Walken gives an excellent performance as this cold hearted evil maniacal gang leader alongside a notable performance by Laurence Fisbourne (credited as Larry Fishbourne), who is a crazy gangster fits all the stereotypes of an over the top black male in the 70's America (imagine the Fresh Prince but with more swearing, negativity and guns) I hated the character, but we are definitely supposed to.
This film is gritty, violent and contains some amazing one liners, I'll score it a 6/10 as it is an ok gangster film, but it's nowhere near the upper echelons of Goodfellas and Casino.
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