In this day and age, most of us would not expect to get away with committing murder once... let alone hundreds of times over the course of 30 years! But in 1960's and 70's New York, apparently anything was possible! Richard Kuklinski stands out as straddling the line between serial killer and mob hitman. Was he a professional who just happened to have a murderous temper, or a dangerous psychopathic maniac who just happened to find employment in doing it? This movie falls short of answering a lot of these questions, but most likely it would simply be "yes".
While not really as big of a social commentary about the seedy underbelly of the city at the time (see TAXI DRIVER for that), this film has a dark and personal feel to it absent from a lot of other recent crime films. The odd stunt-casting of David Schwimmer and Chris Evans as mobster killers surprisingly works pretty well, and the appearance of Ray Liotta and Robert Davi bridges the film with the more prestigious mob movies of yesteryear. It's unfortunate that the low budget and tendency to stray far from historical fact undercut what could have been the most powerful crime film in years. Michael Shannon shines as the star psycho even brighter than he did in BUG. His presence radiates menace and introspection all throughout. It's worth a watch just for him.
I'd like to see a SICARIO-style film about the Juarez Ripper, theoretically an American who exploited the nearly-lawless Mexican border city since the 90's and may have been the only maniac to ever outdo Kuklinski in terms of bodycount and sheer audacity. The issue there is that it's difficult to write an interesting story around a solitary murderer (if it was only one) with little personal interaction. Kuklinski had several accomplices and even attempted to start a gang of his own toward the end (having killed his own childhood gang off as a teenager). To me, this would have been a lot more cinematic, as well if they had tied in how he roped in one of his daughters' boyfriends into helping him dispose of the bodies and tried grooming him to become a hitman as well.
I understand there'd never be enough time in a feature film to truly grant an accurate, in-depth analysis of Kuklinski's "career", but certainly feel this film could have been a whole lot more moving after another rewrite or two.
While not really as big of a social commentary about the seedy underbelly of the city at the time (see TAXI DRIVER for that), this film has a dark and personal feel to it absent from a lot of other recent crime films. The odd stunt-casting of David Schwimmer and Chris Evans as mobster killers surprisingly works pretty well, and the appearance of Ray Liotta and Robert Davi bridges the film with the more prestigious mob movies of yesteryear. It's unfortunate that the low budget and tendency to stray far from historical fact undercut what could have been the most powerful crime film in years. Michael Shannon shines as the star psycho even brighter than he did in BUG. His presence radiates menace and introspection all throughout. It's worth a watch just for him.
I'd like to see a SICARIO-style film about the Juarez Ripper, theoretically an American who exploited the nearly-lawless Mexican border city since the 90's and may have been the only maniac to ever outdo Kuklinski in terms of bodycount and sheer audacity. The issue there is that it's difficult to write an interesting story around a solitary murderer (if it was only one) with little personal interaction. Kuklinski had several accomplices and even attempted to start a gang of his own toward the end (having killed his own childhood gang off as a teenager). To me, this would have been a lot more cinematic, as well if they had tied in how he roped in one of his daughters' boyfriends into helping him dispose of the bodies and tried grooming him to become a hitman as well.
I understand there'd never be enough time in a feature film to truly grant an accurate, in-depth analysis of Kuklinski's "career", but certainly feel this film could have been a whole lot more moving after another rewrite or two.