Sorry, this movie sucks

Sadly Over-hyped

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A pretty awesome bio pic about Irish gangster Danny Greene. Ya see, Danny was pretty upset with the way he and his fellow workers were being treated by the boss, so one day he was pretty sick of it and marched into his bosses office and slapped him across the face, cause he's taking over, and he gets it...ahh if it were only that easy... but this boss was full on corrupt and lacked a spine, and that's how it starts, and then we watch Danny slap the crap out of anybody who stands in his way, making it too the top, and we all know what comes next, the fall. Really cool performance by Ray Stevenson, and a lot of familiar faces pop up as gangsters, same faces that have been playing gangsters since the 80s... Hmmm, maybe they are gangsters!?! And of course, Chris Walken makes an appearance as well, as only Chris Walken can, with pure awesomeness. Filmbufftim on FB.

With the popularity and success of mafia films, lesser known, true stories have to come to light, and I tend to enjoy them the most. Everybody knows about Gotti, Capone, and Bulger, but how many people know about Danny Greene? Greene was a simple factory worker in Cleveland, Ohio, who was upset by how mob corruption had taken over every major industry in the city. Greene wanted to fight back, but no one successfully takes on the mob, so Greene decided to hit them where it hurt. Greene started his own crew and slowly started to take over their businesses. For nearly a decade, the mob tried and failed to assassinate Greene, making him a modern day Bravehart in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Cleveland. Ray Stevenson, always "that other guy", stars in this film, and he was truly outstanding. People who knew Greene say Stevenson's performance was spot on and that really adds to the excitement surrounding this film. Kill The Irishman isn't without it's problems however, as with most mafia related films, it moves incredibly fast. It's hard to keep track of the timeline and as always, people come and go so quickly, that it's hard to keep track of who is who. Beyond that, this film focuses on the violence and assassination attempts surrounding Greene, rather than simply telling his story. The bottom line, Kill The Irishman is certainly not Goodfellas, but it was still extremely entertaining, and offers viewers a story about the mafia, that most wise guys would prefer to forget.

Kill the Irishman tells the story of mobster Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson) and his rise to power in 1970s Cleveland. Green rose to be a local Union boss became a police informer when the heat got too much and then got into conflict with the mafia.The film is told from the viewpoint of cop, Val Kilmer who is too fat to be a cop is in conflict with Greene and actually wasted in the role.This is really low rent version of Goodfellas with less charismatic characters, B list cast, dodgy wigs and bad cgi. The plot goes at a breakneck speed, Greene has no education, works as a docker and a few punches later deposed the crooked union boss, got married to the local bar girl who subsequently leaves him and takes their children and you never hear from her again.Greene teams up with a local mafia hoodlum and together they take on the mafia chiefs which resulted in numerous car bombings in Cleveland which terrorised the citizens.The film is interesting enough because it is pacey, Stevenson tries to infuse his character with charisma and make him out to be a anti hero but is ultimately defeated by the script.

Danny Greene's life story seems tailor-made for Hollywood. But ultimately the movie proves less compelling than the man. Kill the Irishman brings Greene's story to the screen but does so in rather mundane fashion. Chock-full of mob movie clichés there's not enough here to make this movie stand out from the pack. The movie is overflowing with violence, shootings and bombings galore, yet still seems to lack in energy. An explosive start promises great things but things soon fizzle out. Danny Greene leads a very interesting life but the movie really doesn't capture that. The story as presented here is actually somewhat dull and clearly disappointing.Danny Greene may be the hero of the film but make no mistake he's not a good guy. He's mixed up in all sorts of nefarious activity as he rises from lowly Cleveland dock worker to union president to full-fledged mobster. Cleveland's Italian mafia kingpins have no patience for this Irishman who thumbs his nose at them at every opportunity. So eventually they decide they want Danny Greene dead. Easier said than done as he escapes one attempt on his life after another. Cleveland becomes the car-bombing capital of the world as mob war rages. Seems like there should be a lot of excitement here, this should be a movie absolutely crackling with energy. But it's actually a bit of a dud.Ray Stevenson does a decent enough job playing Danny Greene but is not quite charismatic enough. For this movie to work Danny has to be absolutely irresistible, you have to be mesmerized by him. And you're really not. It's Danny's movie, none of the other characters rise above sideshow status. All the clichéd roles are there. There's a wife, a girlfriend, a cop and a bunch of mostly anonymous tough guys. There's also Christopher Walken playing a typical Christopher Walken role. At least his character stands out a bit. The rest of the supposed big-time mobsters disappoint. The Italian bosses actually come across as somewhat pathetic, acting like big-shots as they run their little Cleveland family but needing to call in some real mafia guys from New York to try to clean up their Danny Greene mess. And make no mistake, Danny Greene revels in making a mess. There's seemingly a lot of very good material here but the movie falls flat. It's an interesting story. And there's a nice 1970s period feel to it, the movie looks good. But the movie never really grabs you. This should be edge-of-the-seat stuff. And it is not. The story of Danny Greene is one worth telling. You just wish it was told in better fashion than this.