Review of Kill the Irishman (2011) by Kevin J — 27 Mar 2011

"Kill the Irishman" is a very impressive and well made crime/drama film. Its an enjoyable crime picture thats violent, emotionally effective, mixed with a cast that delivers memorable performances, and it also has some humorous moments in it as well.

I thought it was going to be a run of the mill gangster film but no, its very well made. Yes, it dose borrow elements from notable crime/gangster films, most notibably "Goodfellas" in its use in voice-over narration, but "Kill the Irishman" has enough original source matertial to call its own.

It tells the true story of notorious Irish mobster Danny Greene, played very well by Ray Stevenson. The film covers the years of Danny's rise through the tough organized crime in Cleveland's mafia.

He first begins as an enforcer for the local mob but he quickly begins to rise through a begins to become the leader of Cleveland's Irish mob. Christopher Walken plays a loan-shark who wants Danny to be excecuted after being betrayed by him, so he hires the local Italian mafia to carry out the bussiness.

It then chronicles the war between the two mobs and the many killing attempts against Danny (which he succsessfully avoids many times). It was said that thirty-six bombs denonated in Cleveland in 1976, most of them were for Danny and he couldnt be killed.

Danny was just a man they couldnt kill. It is an intriging look at the life of this particular mobster and Ray Stevenson portrayl is superb, convincing and memeorable. The supporting cast's performnces such as Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Paul Sorvino and Tony Lo Bianco,also add to the convincing look at the life in the mafia.

The performance by Linda Cardellini is also superb because of the way she shows the way mafia life effects family life. Its not really a new theme because that is usually shown in every mafia themed film but its still a well accurate portrayl.

I also highly praise Patrick Cassidy's score, which helps add to the emotional effectivness to the movie. Despite my praise, "Kill the Irishman" is not going to be the next mob classic because it really dosnt break any new ground in the genre.

However, its still a worthy entry in the genre never the less by its convincing portrayl on mob life and its original take on Danny Greene. Since the start of the year we have had a bunch of films that range from medicore to bad.

But "Kill the Irishman" is not one of those films, this film is an excellent film. Its not the best crime/gangster film I have seen but it is the best gangster film I have seen in a long time.