Suicide Kings

Plot synopsis:
Charlie Barret walks to his private table in a restaurant, only to see two young men sitting at his table – Avery and Max. Another young man who is friends with Avery and Max, Brett, joins them shortly after Charlie sits down and begins chatting with them. Charlie happens to know Avery's father, and after an initial reluctance, is willing to go with the boys for a "night on the town".
Before meeting Charlie, they had previously planned to use chloroform to knock him out in their car. The plan goes awry, and Charlie fights back, almost wrecking the car before they can finally put him under. When Charlie wakes up, he sees himself surrounded by the three men, and a fourth friend, T. K., checks his vital signs. It is revealed that Charlie is Carlo Bartolucci, a former mob figure. The boys explain that Avery's sister, Elise, has been kidnapped, and that the kidnappers are demanding a $2 million ransom for her release. Unable to come up with the money on such short notice, they figure Charlie still has connections to get the money and set up an exchange. To ensure that Charlie knows how serious they are, Charlie is shown his cut-off finger, still wearing his signet ring, as the same was done to Elise. As incentive for his cooperation, they explain that they will do to him everything done to Elise.
Charlie flies into a rage and threatens to kill them, though he eventually agrees to help. As Charlie requests continual alcoholic drinks and his blood does not properly clot, T. K., a medical student, explains that Charlie's alcoholism may cause him to die of blood loss if he is not taken to a hospital. Charlie contacts his lawyer, who in turn contacts Lono, Charlie's bodyguard, asking him to track Charlie down. Lono goes about his own investigation, asking for, and in some cases beating out, information from people, including the hostess, Jennifer, who usually waits on Charlie, and a friend of Charlie's, Lydia. During the course of these conversations, Charlie unnerves the friends with stories of his early years as a gangster, including the origin of his signet ring.
As Lono searches, Charlie takes advantage of the boys' naïvete. A fifth friend, Ira, shows up unexpectedly and demands an explanation – they are using his house under the cover story of a poker game. Ira is flustered by their carelessness in his parents' house and becomes even more worried when he realizes they have kidnapped a major figure in the mob. Charlie plays the friends against each other, slowly getting information out of them and using it to his advantage. After much cajoling and piecing information together, Charlie identifies Max, Elise's boyfriend, as an inside man. As his enraged friends plan to cut off his finger, Avery stops them, admits it was his plan, and says he recruited Max to help him. Avery made several unlucky bets, could not pay off his debts, and was approached by mobsters who had purchased his debt. They offered him a way out: became an inside man on his own sister's kidnapping.
Lono eventually makes his way to Ira's house and has Charlie removed from his restraints, around the same time that the money is sent to the two thugs. Avery rushes to meet his sister at the appointed drop-off, but she does not appear. Charlie and Lono track down the two kidnappers, who insist they never kidnapped Elise and the whole operation was a con. Charlie and Lono kill the thugs, and it is revealed that Max and Elise set the whole thing up, splitting the ransom between them and the thugs. Charlie and Lono track Max and Elise to a boat off a tropic island where, although Charlie understands their reasons for conning him, he has Lono shoot them both dead. The screen dissolves to a rotoscope orange and the film ends.
=== Alternate endings ===
The film also features two alternate endings. In one of them, Charlie allows Max and Elise to live, but reclaims the $1 million, giving them a small amount of the money back. In the other ending, Charlie allows them to live, but takes his money, after which Lono shoots holes in the boat, causing it to slowly sink. However, test audiences didn't like these endings as much, feeling that Max and Elise needed to pay for the betrayal of their friends and grief they had caused.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, satire, suspenseful

Review:
I compare it with movies like Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects,  U-Turn,  Kalifornia,  Wild Things,  True Romance and A Simple Plan.
But the most amazing thing about this movie is Christopher Walken's subtly venomous performance,  which complements the sharp, individualized performances of the younger cast members.
Walken plays Charlie Barrett,  a man who is unwittingly "recruited" to help five college-aged rich kids rescue one of their sisters,  who has been kidnapped for a $2 million ransom.
The five kids:  nervous Avery (Henry Thomas),  the one whose sis Elise (Laura Harris) is endangered;  handsome Max (Sean Patrick Flanery),  who is Elise's sweetheart;  Brett (Jay Mohr),  the one with a hell of an anger problem;  aspiring doctor TK (Jeremy Sisto);  and ultra-neurotic Ira (Johnny Galecki) whose house becomes a hideout for the kids after they kidnap Barrett.
Former gangster Carlo Bartolucci aka Charlie Barrett (Christopher Walken in one of his best roles ever) attends a bistro where he finds that a group of swaggering young men, consisting of Max (Sean Patrick Flanery), Avery (Henry Thomas), Brett (Jay Mohr), T.K.
The guys keep Charlie prisoner in the mansion, but soon, Charlie starts to play head games with them, and it soon becomes obvious that there is a traitor in their midst.This darkly humorous crime thriller can be described in the most simple terms as "The Breakfast Club" meets "The Godfather" or something like that, even though I myself never saw "The Godfather." Walken is increasingly laughter-provoking, suave, and creepy all at the same time as he delivers witticism after witticism despite his usual situation.
Four of the lead males (Henry Thomas, Jay Mohr, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Jeremy Sisto) all portray swaggering rich boys, while Johnny Galecki (David from TV's "Roseanne") is screamingly funny as the nitpicking nerd of the bunch and Denis Leary is his usual laid-back self as slick and wisecracking gangster Lono (what a funny name!).I said it once and I'll say it again -- "Suicide Kings" is a darkly comical film, but it is highly recommended (for those with kids) that you watch this either late at night or while the kids are away.I give "Suicide Kings" a 10 out of 10 on a scale of 1-10 in my humble opinion..
The list of all other actors in this movie merely epitomizes the superb acting talent in "Suicide Kings"..Very few films exude such acting ability!!The movie starts out with an amateurishly orchestrated kidnapping attempt which is used as a defense strategy to abort another kidnapping!!
However the longer they keep Bartolucci the closer his right hand man Veccio gets to finding them and the more the friends realise that the kidnapping plot may be more complex than first thought.Attracted to this film by the presence of Walken playing the role he does best  some sort of mobster  I wasn't really sure what to expect.
At the end I didn't feel any involvement or surprise by the twists whereas I had sat up and paid attention to the first few.The film is quite comic at places and this makes it feel like a more enjoyable piece than it would have if it had just been played straight.
"Suicide Kings" is an often enjoyable and compelling film, despite a few plot holes due to some twists at the end that the writers desperately threw in to surprise the audience, but didn't take the time to reflect on whether they made perfect sense or not.
The premise of Suicide Kings - four young and privileged men kidnap a retired mob boss played by Christopher Walken - is appealing.
So much so that it makes me wish it made for a better film.Suicide Kings tries to be a psychological thriller focusing on mental cat-and-mouse games between the mobsters and his kidnappers, and the actors are good enough to pull it off - in fact, they're good enough to make you think that there's any psychological depth to the film, when really there's none.
Walken and the talented young cast - Denis Leary, Jay Mohr, Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints), Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order), Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) and Henry Thomas (E.T's Elliot all grown up) - all deliver their lines with so much passion and conviction that you almost don't notice how messy and shallow the script really is.This fine group of actors - and Walken's wildly charismatic performance most of all, from an actor so powerful he can dominate the film while being tied to a chair for all but a few minutes of it - is more than enough to make the film entertaining, even very enjoyable.
A Plot Twist Too Far. A survey of the cast, which include Christopher Walken, Jay Mohr, and Denis Leary, suggests there might have been a cracker here, alas 'Suicide Kings' founders with a script more shallow than a paddling pool and plot so contorted an audience can feel cheated.The collegiate bucks at the centre of this film make up annoying group of young man, each friends and each jerks with an intense pre-existing dislike for each other.
There's something to be said for movies like Double Indemnity where you see the end coming but still enjoy the show even when the good guy doesn't come out of it ok.
Taking place almost entirely in one house and one bloody night, everything is put in question.As the characters develop with the plot, they start learning more about themselves just as we do, and there is a surprising amount of thought and introspection to the "Suicide Kings".
This ranks fairly highly on my all-time bad film list.It's one of only two or three movies I have actually stopped watching half-way through.
The characters aren't developed enough to make me even remotely interested in what happens to them, and toward the end of the movie, if I didn't want them all dead, I at least didn't even care if they recovered the kidnapped girl or not.
If you want to see a dark, funny, suspenseful movie, then take the time to watch Suicide Kings.
Lastly, the end is much like Usual Suspects, trying to figure out who-done-it, only to find out who it really was...All in all, Suicide Kings is not one of the best movies ever, but is one of my favorites and I highly recommend at least renting this flick.
Christopher Walken is just so cool and creepy as the mob boss, I just loved his line "Now we play my way!", isn't he just the coolest guy ever?
I have read contrary views to this, but it is my assessment that Henry Thomas (yes, from E.T.), Jay Mohr, Denis Leary, and Christopher Walken blend really well together in this movie.Long story short: A group of trust fund preppies kidnaps a known mob boss to fix a situation involving one of the young men's kidnapped sister- he can either pay the ransom or use his connections to find out who is behind the sister-snatching.
Denis Leary also appears as Walken's right hand man.Overall, Suicide Kings is beautifuly made and it is a shame that most people haven't even heard of it.
It was just plain stupid.The cast, which includes one-time stars Sean Patrick Flannery and Henry Thomas, stalled-stars Jay Mohr and Jeremy Sisto and I'll-make-any-film-for-money stars Christopher Walken and Denis Leary, are all wasted with terrible, uninspired dialogue.
He played in a lot of Tim Burton's movies(which is a good thing), but now, he plays in Suicide Kings, a cool thriller with other good actors.
I thought it was a great film, blackly funny (laugh out loud funny in a couple of places), a decent double (or was it treble?!)twist at the end, magnificent performances from Walken and Leary.
One of the best movies made in 1997.In Germany it was only a video premier and i expected not so much.But I'm a big Christopher Walken -fan and so we watched it with very great interests.Damn,what a great movie.All actors,especially Mr.Walken and the guy from "Roseanne"who played Ira(IMDb didn't list him in the character-.list),showed their best.Respect to Sean Patrick Flanery.He is on the way to become one of the good so called underdogs of Hollywood.Also the plot astonish and hijacked us from the first minute on.I don't know why the responsible guys in Germany brought this very good movie only on video-tape.After watching it ,we started to present this movie to our friends.they couldn't believe it either.Now its an famous insider-tip.
If you don't over think it too much and just enjoy Denis Leary and Walken as tough guys with hearts of gold (which is, after all, how we like our Hollywood mobsters) this is a fun film.
The film reaches the cast of Jay Mohr, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Henry Thomas, Jeremy Sisto, and Johnny Galecki.Upon watching this film, I was expecting to see a neo-noir thriller with suspense and originality.
But this is celebration, not mere emulation: Leary's monologues make for a finely honed pastiche, whilst one climactic scene (no, no spoilers here) is the Dogs' warehouse tableaux pointedly, wittily, re-staged.A class act, then, and from all concerned: sharp, fast, direction, skilled editing, some joyous dialogue (particularly where Christopher Walken is concerned, an actor imbued with an innate and charismatic immobility here -- cue joke -- rendered even more immobile for most of the movie, yet responsible for one of the most animated (and funny) performances he's ever given.Downside?
So why've I had to pay to see on film what passes through their collective brain (on the evidence of this film, plainly, not a lot)?Niggles aside though: for sheer creativity, rich humour (the hidden gags -- Walken=immobile=totally unmoving, the Dogs' subtly, briefly reprised warehouse tableau -- inevitably work better than the more overt comedy) and, above all, boundless energy, Suicide Kings is a high card all the way, a stand-out in this now increasingly overcrowded genre.Pity about the final scenes though.
The only characters that save the movie are the old-crime-king (Walken) and his driver (Leary) ..
On the surface, this is a light drama-comedy-mystery about five young preppy guys who kidnap a professional criminal who they think is the master of criminals, because the sister of one of the young men is kidnapped, and they want to use him as leverage.There is the usual red herring and counter bluffs and all the movie stuff that makes the geeks happy.This is really not about the story, however.
The story has enough twists in it to keep you guessing right up until the end.Christopher Walken plays the central role of businessman "Charlie Barret" around whom everything in our story revolves.
And that's where the movie's fun truly begins.Walken is a delight and surely the best thing the film has to offer although Denis Leary runs him close with his profane, explosive performance as Charlie's bodyguard Lono Veccio.
I didn't watch this movie for Christopher Walken or Denis Leary, although both of them are excellent in this film.
Either is certainly a better use of that time.Finally, kudos to Denis Leary and Sean Patrick Flanery, both of whom are great in this movie.
But Suicide Kings kept me entertained with the twists and turns, the interesting character development of even some minor characters (like Leary's scenes), the dark humor from Walken, and the realism that permeates the movie.
Great performances from all actors but Christopher Walken and Denis Leary stood out the most and were absolutely awesome throughout the film.
This is a must see movie for anyone who is a fan of twisted endings and incredible acting by both veterans and up and coming actors like Sean Patrick Flannery and Jay Mohr..
Between him and a very amused Walken, it morphs firmly into a comedy with interesting plot twists.The chosen ending (you see two others on the DVD) was, in my opinion, too dark for the rest of the movie.
Wonder how the original short story ended...There are other flaws, like the unnecessary flashback with Laura San Giacomo, but seeing Walken in a 70s outfit and long wig is more than worth it!I rented this thinking `oh, another Tarantino-like noirish pseudo-hip guy-movie', but it was MUCH better than that--a very funny movie with great lines.
Christopher Walken, Laura Harris, Jeremy Sisto, Brad Garrett, Jay Mohr, Johnny Galecki, Sean Patrick Flanery, Henry Thomas, Laura San Giacomo and Dennis Leary.OK, not quite the highest-of-profile names for the most part.
At one point in the movie, Walken's character says to his captors: "You guys didn't think this through too good, did you?" Anyone with a handful of working brain cells will be thinking the same thing.
He gives a lot of wild-child style and so does everyone else involved.Heist/kidnapping movies that deal with "inside jobs" just gotta have that moment where the ship's going down in flame and the rats all turn on each other."SUICIDE KINGS" is still worth a look for a slow night.
Jeremy Sisto as the medical student tending to Walken is more than adequate to the role, and you can see the young actor's ability flourishing into the actor he has become.As to the film itself, the plot, once you get past the implausible part, is good and moves pretty well, although there is a lot of exposition that seems pointless until you get to the very end.
Fortunately, in Suicide Kings, Christopher Walken is on top of his game, and witnessing the man's impeccable delivery and strange, threatening but disarming screen presence is enough to persuade me to see any movie, regardless of the rest of the cast members.
It's only a matter of time before Charlie decides to help the kids out, and he plays them against one another by showing them that the kidnappers may be much closer to home than they could have imagined.Suicide Kings is a good film not because of the big names, but because of those who have since become big names.
Suicide Kings belongs to the weird little sub-genre of films that appeared in the mid to late 90's that basically just tried to follow / steal ideas from Tarantino movies and Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects.Whats surprising about this effort is that it's really rather good true the Tarantino influences are there for all to see (Denis Leary's boots monologue etc.) but this doesn't effect what is a quality little thriller.
BUT, the whole movie is worth it for walken's smart dialogue, perfectly played, and leary's irish gangster character acting more real than anything scorcese could have concocted in "gangs of new york.".
This movie was very well cast and Christopher Walken is once again the man.
The story twists and turns until the final shot.Christopher Walken is outstanding as usual, as is Denis Leary, who is downright hilarious in this one.
You would think the story itself, the characters, Christopher Walken's creepy and twisted performance, or maybe even Denis Leary's funny and, characteristically, foul-mouthed Lono.
Christopher Walken is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, and he did not disappoint with this movie.
This was a very well written movie that used the abilities of Christopher Walken, Dennis Leary, and a group of young male actors, to fashion a mystery, plot twist,  black comedy that is really different in today's action FX world.It doesn't surprise me that it made no dent at the movie houses.
The plot is original, and funny at times, and some of the roles were acted out superbly, such as Christopher Walken's role as the retired mafia boss and Jeremy Sisto as the upcoming doctor, T.K. Some of the filming seemed a bit weak but overall I'd say if your a fan of the genre, then this is a must see movie simply because it offers something different..
"Suicide Kings" offers some intelligent dialogue, but often recycles it from better movies like "Pulp Fiction." It is getting to the point where we are going to have to give Hollywood a new genre: stories that borrow anything they can from Quentin Tarantino films.
Christopher Walken plays a mob boss who gets kidnapped by a bunch of high-society young men and held hostage while one of them's sister is getting held hostage...but all might not be what it seems.A criticism that I've sometimes heard of movies like this is that there's no redeeming character.
The twists toward the end are great, and completely unpredictable.Great cast, of stars and stars-to-be: Christopher Walken, Dennis Leary, Jay Mohr, Sean Patrick Flannery.
The problem with "Suicide Kings" is that the plot gets mighty convoluted; after it all, we wonder why they did things like chop off Christopher Walken's digit in the first place.
Good cast with good characterizations (note the Jeremy Sisto role) and comic relief (mostly Johnny Galecki's character) offsets the routine.****** Suicide Kings (9/6/97) Peter O'Fallon ~ Christopher Walken, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jeremy Sisto, Henry Thomas.
SEAN PATRICK FLANERY, JAY MOHR, JEREMY SISTO and NATHAN DANA are all excellent as the young men with the plan that hasn't been carefully thought out, and JOHNNY GALECKI demonstrates a good deal of comic flair in his role as the unhappy friend who inadvertently allows the men to mess up his father's home for their criminal plans.DENIS LEARY injects a lot of grim humor into his role as Walken's aide handy with a gun and BRAD GARRETT and FRANK MEDRANO draw laughs as a pair of bickering gangsters who argue mostly about who gets to use the TV remote and threaten to shoot each other over it.The clever script even has a twist ending that gives the film a final "crime doesn't pay" fade-out.
Suicide Kings is a great film about a group of friends, led by Brett (Jay Mohr), who come up with a plan to save Avery's (Henry Thomas) sister from a pair of kidnappers.
The good points are Christopher Walken I thought he was perfect for this movie and gave a great performance.