King of New York

I haven't seen enough Christopher Walken films but, from what I have seen, he has always been one of those great supporting actors who regularly turns in memorable performances. Then not long ago I had chance to watch King of New York which featured Walken in the leading role and having enjoyed Carlito's Way, I was keen to watch more early 1990s crime films as it seemed like a treasure drove to crack open. 

Walken stars as the drug lord, Frank White, who has been released from prison and wastes little time at all with planning to rebuild his empire, but also aspires to become a respectable member of society and improve his local community. Not necessarily in the most conventional of ways via charitable donations, instead more akin to eliminating his competitors so he has total control of his neighbourhood in New York City and this attracts some unwanted attention from the law.

Directed by Abel Ferrara and released in 1990, King of New York is a neo-noir of sorts that flips between a conventional crime thriller and some more funky moments as characters party hard into the night. It's not what I expected but it does give this film a unique flavour from so many other crime films as it runs just over 90 minutes without ever dragging. Walken is very good in the leading role but a surprise favourite was a very lively Laurence Fishburne, a world away from the wise Morpheus, as one of the young members in White's crew. 

And yet I wouldn't say King of New York is quite on the same level as Scorsese's mobster films or Carlito's Way. What Ferrara does here is good but I can't say this is a great, must-see crime film. Instead, it is a solid one where you can see the end coming before it happens but you will have fun time by the end if you are interested in the genre. So not quite king of the crime films but a good effort nonetheless.