Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths - Dir. Martin McDonagh (2012)

Irish playwright Martin McDonagh garnered critical acclaim for his feature film debut, In Bruges, which was one of my favorite films of 2008. It also marked a career best performance from Colin Farrell. In Bruges was a dark comedy about two hitmen hiding out in Belgium that could best be described as Tarantino crossed with Fellini. McDonagh’s sophomore is more like Tarantino meets Charlie Kaufman, a violent comedy titled Seven Psychopaths.

Farrell plays Marty, a struggling alcoholic screenwriter, as if there is any other kind. He’s working on a screenplay for a movie called Seven Psychopaths. All he has is the title and stories about two psychopaths. One is a Quaker exacting his own unique brand of justice against his daughter’s murderer and one about a former Viet Cong on a mission of revenge for the My Lai Massacre. Marty’s best friend is Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell), an aspiring actor. When he’s not punching out directors at auditions, Billy runs a dognapping operation with Hans (Christopher Walken), an elderly eccentric, who dutifully visits his wife at the cancer ward.

One day, Billy kidnaps a little Shih Tzu named Bonny, who belongs to a volatile gangster named Charlie Costello. He’ll do everything necessary to get his beloved dog back including shooting Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) in the face.

Seven Psychopaths unfolds through a twisting meta-textual narrative. It’s no coincidence that a movie starring an Irish screenwriter was written and directed by one too. Throughout the film, McDonagh comments on his own work while also lampooning Hollywood conventions. The unsophisticated Billy thinks Marty’s script would be improved by an over-the-top climatic shootout, which leads to a wild fantasy with double fisted gunplay and heads literally exploding upon the impact of a single bullet. But, Marty wants to make something deeper without all the mindless violence. Yet, the movie does end with a final shootout though it doesn’t go as Billy imagined. For the most part, McDonagh successfully has his cake and eats it too though it doesn’t work when it comes to the women in Seven Psychopaths. Hans chastises Marty for his poorly written female characters, a critique levied on McDonagh, one that is certainly valid here.  Though Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish are featured prominently, they get barely a handful of lines. The latter randomly shows up in wet t-shirt. While that scene is meant to represent Billy’s adolescent indulgences, does calling attention to his underrepresentation of women really excuse it? The one actress who does get any sort of meaty role is Linda Bright Clay as Hans’s wife, Myra, though she’s mainly there to be put into peril in order to spur on her husband.

This is clearly a guy’s movie and the men of Seven Psychopaths are wildly entertaining. Farrell mostly plays the straight man to the zany characters around him. Rockwell is hilarious as the off-kilter ringleader while Christopher Walken gets one of his most Christopher Walken-y roles to date. Yes, he’s weird and menacing, but Walken is the heart of the movie with a tenderness that you don’t expect from the King of New York. Woody Harrelson is terrific as the unhinged Charlie Costello, plus he has noted character actors Kevin Corrigan and Zeljko Ivanec as his henchmen.

The real star of Seven Psychopaths is McDonagh’s dialogue that sparkles off the page and energizes the interactions between his characters. McDonagh tackles his words with a stylish flair in the vein of Tarantino and Mamet. The picture sets it all up in the opening sequence with a pair of loquacious hitmen (Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg) discussing their jobs and John Dillinger before a sudden and deadly exclamation point. The dialogue helps to take your mind off the fact that McDonagh is stuffed his film to the gills with a myriad of sub-plots such as a masked vigilante known as the Jack of Diamonds. One of the most intriguing asides belongs to Tom Waits as a mysterious rabbit owner, who tells Marty his past as a serial killer who targeted other serial killers.

Seven Psychopaths could also be called Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Adaptations. It’s a messy comedy that manages to come together thanks to a talented ensemble and well-written dialogue.

Rating: *** (*****)

Kill the Irishman

Kill the Irishman - Dir. Jonathan Hensleigh (2011)

"...if any of these maggots in the so-called mafia want to come after me, I'm not a hard man to find."

Cleveland is known as the home of the Indians and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Most folks don't realize that the city was also known as a hotbed for the mafia back in the 70's. In fact, Cleveland earned the dubious nickname of "Bomb City, USA" due to the violent struggle between rival mob factions and their use of bombs as the preferred method of murder. Thirty-six explosions were set off in 1976 alone. Hip deep in the thick of things was an Irish gangster by the name of Danny Greene, who serves as the basis for Kill the Irishman, a fictionalized account of those violent events. Kill the Irishman was co-written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, who also wrote and directed The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane in the titular role. Oddly enough, the star of his newest film is Ray Stevenson, who took over as Marvel's premiere vigilante in the sequel/reboot, Punisher: War Zone.

Stevenson plays Greene as a physically imposing man with a barrel chest and a shock of strawberry blonde hair. His rise in the world of organized crime began as the head of the dockworkers' union. To consolidate power, Greene struck a deal with the Italians in exchange for goods pilfered from errant shipping containers. It was through this relationship that Greene met John Nardi (Vincent D'Onofrio), who would become one of his staunchest allies and the only Mafioso that actually liked the Irishman. A scathing news article exposed Greene's corruption and he was banned from the union for life. He escaped jail time by agreeing to become an FBI informant. In real life, Greene was one of the highest profile informants for the feds along with Whitey Bulger, the recently arrested mob boss who served as an inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed.

Greene would eventually work as a leg breaker for notorious loan shark Shondor Birns (Christopher Walken). A sour business transaction would end their relationship and ignite a blood feud between a mafia desperate to retain control of the city against Greene's gang, which was quickly consolidating power. After surviving multiple attempts upon his life, including an explosion in his home, Greene brazenly dared the mob to come after him during a televised interview. Of course, the all good things must come to an end.

Kill the Irishman is a familiar story told in a familiar way and full of familiar faces. To put it bluntly, it's a knockoff of Scorsese films and assorted episodes of The Sopranos. Hensleigh recycles plenty of ideas from movies like Mean Streets and Goodfellas. There's a montage showing Greene's rise to power and chart-topping pop songs ironically contrasting violent scenes. The dialogue consists of clichéd tough guy lines like, "Your enemies are my enemies."

Pretty much anyone who has ever played a gangster is in Kill the Irishman. There's Walken, D'Onofrio, Paul Sorvino, Steven Schirripa, Mike Starr, Tony Lo Bianco, Robert Davi, Tony Darrow, and Vinny Vella, along with Vinnie Jones (sporting an awful looking tan and an even worse Irish accent) and Bob Gunton. Linda Cardellini takes on the Lorraine Bracco role of the put upon wife who can only stand by her man for so long. Finally, Val Kilmer appears as Det. Manditski, a former childhood acquaintance of Greene's who serves as narrator. This cast of noted character actors is the film's sole saving grace and serves as fine support for a strong performance by Stevenson. The former Titus Pullo imbues the role of Danny Greene with a natural charisma, even if the character is thinly written. Greene is painted as a Robin Hood figure and a blue-collar underdog in t-shirts and jeans defiant against the elitist Italians in their tailored suits.

Hensleigh adds to the authenticity by dotting the narrative with archival news footage of the actual events.

Kill the Irishman fails to live up to the renowned gangster pics it tries so hard to emulate. It's neither original nor memorable, but is worth a look because of a game and talented cast. Hey, Christopher Walken is always fun to watch.

Rating: ** (*****)

Last Man Standing

Last Man Standing - Dir. Walter Hill (1996)

The definition of guilty pleasure.

Yojimbo remake melded with the film noir voice of Raymond Chandler and the two-fisted gunplay of John Woo.

Walter Hill remains a fantastic, yet underrated, action director.