Kill the Irishman

It doesn't take much research into the real story of Danny Greene and the Cleveland mob war to recognize that there was potentially a great Mobster movie waiting to be made. This film misses the mark, which is sad, because the players were there to craft something special.

The downfall of this film is the script and the way it rushes through time and space without ever focusing enough on the characters and their relationship with each other (and in the case of Greene with society) to really get us connected into the world they inhabit. We see scene after scene that remind us of gangster movie staples. Greene beaten by Italian kids as a boy, Greene standing up to the crooked Union leadership, Greene making deals with the mafia, Greene gets a girl and they wind up married, Greene beats up bikers, Greene gets a partner out of hot water and tells him never to gamble again...and duh..he gambles again. Unfortunately, we always stay on the surface of people's motivations as these scenes fly by, we never stop and get a sense of why with the characters. And we never connect with them.

The acting is fine, Ray Stevenson's Greene is tough and smart and world-worn, everyone else is fine but they just stay on the periphery and play stock characters who come and go for the most part.

If the script had made a choice to either be the story through the eyes of Val Kilmer's Cleveland police detective, or the story through the eyes of Irish Danny Greene, instead of just a linear montage of standard gangster film clichés, we all could have been treated to a top-notch tale.

The movie just proves you need a great script to make a great movie, and it didn't have one.

Ray Stevenson is Danny Greene, an Irish mobster, active in the Cleveland underworld during the 1970s. Greene started as a union organizer and within a short time, won election to the presidency of the longshoreman's guild, which he ruled with an iron fist. He was eventually an FBI informant and was a Mafia enforcer at the same time.

Greene became entangled with the traditional Italian-American La Cosa Nostra with his own crew of criminals who ran gambling operations in competition with the already established gangsters. A series of bomb explosions made Cleveland one of the most violent American cities of the era.

The movie is brutal but also has great wit and Stevenson is as charming as can be as Danny Greene. The supporting cast includes Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, and all are as good as expected. This may very well be the best unknown and unseen crime drama ever released.

I've been pretty excited about getting my hands on this film for some time now without knowing very much about it. But watch the trailer and if you're a fan of your 'Goodfellas,' 'Donnie Brasco's and 'Casino's then you'll probably relate.

'Kill The Irishman' has been called the best film since 'Goodfellas' as was stated on the DVD box that came in the mail today. Now all that tells a man to begin with is that the film is the best imitation of 'Goodfellas' there's been since 'Goodfellas' was introduced to cinemas and VHS tapes. Fear not, it is actually good enough to compare to the many times already aforementioned gangster classic and what comes as a surprise is pretty much everything about the film.

Firstly, a synopsis. Danny Greene's story - narrated by Val Kilmer (who lends some heavy support throughout the film) - tells of a tough Irishman working the grain silos at the Cleveland Docks whose rise to infamy begins when he goes to work for the mafia after a jail term for larceny makes headlines due to his muscling in on his former factory boss's business.

Greene is an old fashioned street fighting man who will stand up to anybody and although readily willing to commit crimes to make money, he is an honest and caring man by nature and this quickly endears us to the complex character so easily portrayed by Irish-born up and coming actor Ray Stevenson. I say up and coming but if you're British you'll already know him for television and minor film roles. If you're American you may know him for 'King Arthur', 'Outpost', 'Book of Eli' and 'Punisher: War Zone'.

As events unfold and just as Greene became unhappy with his factory boss, he sees the mafia acting unfairly, abusively and little involved. He declares that he will go into business for himself, meaning that he will inevitably have to declare war on the Italian mafia.

Naturally, what follows is the titular plot; the mafia attempting and failing over the duration of many years to hit the unflappable Irishman as he goes to great lengths to rub it in their faces and get revenge where necessary.

The film, based mostly in Cleveland throughout post-war '70's America, looks and feels authentic but it is the strong, earthy Irish charm that sets it apart from all those old classic I-tallian-American gangster films and a style of film-making that sometimes takes you back even as far as the forties for its occasionally rich film-noir texture.

What I find amazing because this is actually no huge Hollywood film is that 'Kill The Irishman' boasts a hugely classic cast including Val Kilmer (Heat), Christopher Walken (explanation???), Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) and Robert Davi (Die Hard and The Goonies) to name a few. They're all very admirably cast in familiar roles, some unfamiliar which works in favour of plot tiwsts, and help to endear us towards a film that is actually very down to earth and sometimes even hilarious for a such a darkly toned crime drama.

What surprised me the most is the link I made earlier on as I looked over the cast and crew of the film. Ray Stevenson (the last man to portray killer ex-military vigilante Frank Castle AKA The Punisher) being directed as the film's lead by Jonathan Hensleigh, director of the 2004 Thomas Jane version of The Punisher. And the team works brilliantly. Hensleigh who I associated with slow and simplistic storytelling since the latter has really thrown a curveball with this one and I can't help but wonder; what if Hensleigh had directed Stevenson as the Punisher instead, what kind of comic crime caper would we have gotten then? Kill The Irishman boasts some hilariously offensive dialogue that cannot be mistaken for anything but Irish, the film to me at first glance was authentic and quite realistic and I recommend it to everyone with a fully functioning brain and heart. 'Kill The Irishman' is one of the best dramas on offer at this moment!

Review by Ruby: If you are reading this, you have probably read the background info about The Irishman Danny Greene and his Italian buddy John Nardi who worked and broke the law many times over in the streets of Cleveland throughout the 1970s. In addition to Greene and Nardi, many of the cast members were familiar "mob types," and testosterone was practically flying off the screen in the midst of bravado, fistfights, gunfire, and countless explosions. But there was an actual story to follow also, so it offered more substance than much of the drivel that manages to run in the theatres today.

Even though they were gangsters, Greene and Nardi were surprisingly likable characters—for killers, that is—mostly because of the charismatic acting of the two leads, Ray Stevenson and Vincent D'Onofrio. The supporting characters were interesting also, including the talents of Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Steve Schirripa, Paul Sorvino, Tony Lo Bianco, and Mike Starr.

Interspersed with the actors' scenes were actual clips of film footage from local newscasts of the day, which added authenticity and a touchstone to the amazing story that unfolded in Cleveland some 30-40 years ago.

I highly recommend "Kill the Irishman" as an action-packed, escapist, period piece, featuring superior acting and excellent film editing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 100+ minutes!

The author of the book in which the movie is based has a unique insight, he's a cop, his family was part of the old "mustache pete" mafia. the book and the movie, demonstrate in realistic detail just how far the Mafia has declined in the post golden era of the 50s and 60's. One Irishman, with the help of an old Mafia associate, showed the world just how incompetent the mob had become in Cleveland and elsewhere. The movie deftly shows that level of incompetence.

Ray Stevenson does a credible job as Irish Danny Green and Vincent D'Onforio is even better as the conflicted John Nardi. Christopher Walken is barely visible as Shonder Burns. Tony Lo Bianco does a great job of a weak, indecisive mob boss who just can't get it right.

The movie is burdened with low production value, but the story is true. And the life they highlight deserves low production value. Anyone who compares this to Goodfellows or the Soprano's is out of touch.