City of Crime

This is a studio character with tones of suspense about some two-fisted criminals in L.A city . An old thief named Roy Egan (Harvey Keitel) , is drawn into the final jewel heist to Russian Mafia when his youngest brother named Lee (Timothy Hutton) asks him for a last score before they get out of the game . Lee forms a motley group (Keitel , Wade Dominguez and Stephen Dorff) to carry out the violent robbing . Unfortunately for him , Lee's picked one wrong partner and the events get worse . One of them decides he doesn't want to share the goods and betrays the group and happens murders and wreak havoc .The retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his partners, while going on the run with the loot they stole.

This modern adaptation of noir cinema contains thrills , intrigue, explosive scenes of action and over-riding feeling of heat . Interesting premise in which takes places a moving cat-and-mouse hunt through the seedier sides of L.A . Exciting and stirring finale full of shootouts , violence and fights into a factory . Good performances from all-star cast as Harvey Keitel as an old pro robber who has vowed to avenge his brother , Stephen Dorff as a volatile , violent wheelman and Famke Janssen as a suffering wife . Nice musical score including an emotive song at the beginning . Colorful cinematography by Thomas Burstyn who permeates the whole movie even in the hours of night and darkness .

The motion picture is professionally directed by John Irvin with a well-achieved realization and elaborate scenes , though doesn't always live up to its promise . He worked extensively in TV before making his film debut with ¨The dogs of war¨ a cool rendition of a best-seller by Frederick Forsyth dealing with mercenaries in Africa. He went on directing ¨Ghost story¨ starred by old Hollywood-all-star and ¨Champions¨ about a courageous recovery from cancer stricken a steeple-chase jockey . After that , he realized a fine Vietnam movie as ¨The Hamburger Hill¨, ¨Turtle diary¨, an Arnold Szwenegger vehicle as ¨Raw Deal¨ and a good and realistic TV ¨Robin Hood¨. Finally , he made underrated films that not had the same inspiration since them as ¨Next of kin¨ , ¨Eminent domain¨ , ¨Freefall¨ and a sparkling comedy ,¨Widows peak¨ and is also of note a wartime genre as ¨When trumpets fade¨(1998). And of course , ¨City of Industry¨ , being one of the jewels in Irvin's crown , it results to be one of this most interesting works and an efficient contemporary Noir which had moderated success .

I would describe Harvey Keitel's performance in this violent thriller as exceptional, except that he turns in such remarkable performances time after time. He plays Roy Egan, a veteran con helping his kid brother, Lee (Timothy Hutton), and two other desperados, pull a big jewel job in Palm Springs. The job goes well, but then one of the gang gets murderously greedy, and Roy goes into LA, after him and the loot.

The other element which lifts the movie from competent to first rate are the downtown and industrial locations. For once we see an LA not made up exclusively of lush areas like Beverly Hills on the one hand, and no-go ghettos like South Central on the other. At the same time, writer Ken Solarz and director John Irvin make good use of LA's ethnic mix, with both Chinese and Black gangs playing a part as Roy hunts his man. Hutton, Stephen Dorff, Wade Dominguez and Famke Janssen contribute solid performances, and Lucy Liu is also to be seen. The movie may descend into too much mayhem for some; and the sunny epilogue seems out of place; but this is a must-see for thriller-lovers.

I agree with Stephen. I watched this film mainly to see Harvey Keitel's work: I was wholly unprepared for the slam-bang surprise after the heist. I think it's a great revenge flick in the full Bronson mode.

Immedietly after watching CITY OF INDUSTRY I was left with the opinion of " standard urban revenge thriller " . A few days later I was still left with this opinion and a few weeks later I was left with this opinion still . I think it's safe to say that this can best be described as a " standard urban revenge thriller

It plays out very much like a heist movie where some naughty men carry out a robbery and then the naughtiest man in the pack decides he's going to keep the money for himself at the expense of his colleagues . One thing this movie can never be accused of is showing that crime is easy money or that there's anything resembling honour amongst thieves . This alone makes the movie recommended

Another recommendation is the performance by Harvey Keitel who is incapable of ever giving a bad performance and in this type of role as a mean bad mother who is out for revenge he's certainly in his element . Director John Irvin gets the best out of Keitel and you really believe this guy is a killer , not something you can say about one of Kietel's peers in later films - Yes Mr DeNiro I mean you

Despite a heart stopping sequence when it looks like the heist merchants are going to be caught when dozens of cop cars surround them there's one or two sequences by Irvin that don't really make sense . One is where Kietel's character has to make a getaway from a dirty double crosser but the sequence cuts to night where Kietel is crawling through an irrigation ditch . What it took him several hours to move a few hundred yards ? Things like this and Elliot Gould's pointless cameo stop the movie being anything more than standard but if passes the time if you enjoy crime thrillers

Keitel runs, walks, staggers, stumbles, and crawls through "City of Industry" to settle a score with fellow thief Dorff in this surprisingly entertaining but gritty and violent action/drama from the same mold as "Reservoir Dogs". Janssen plays a babe (what else?) caught up in the vendetta filmed in just about every seedy part of Los Angeles. Good stuff for crime buffs and Keitel fans into violent gangster-type flicks.