
After completing a lengthy prison sentence, one-time drug kingpin Frank White returns to New York intent on reestablishing his empire and making things as they were before he left. Others of course have taken over the business during his absence but that clearly isn't going to stop White. While he is gunning down the opposition, he decides he's going to give away the money he'll make to modernize the hospital in his old neighborhood. Drug dealers aren't the only thing he has ... (Full plot summary below)
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After completing a lengthy prison sentence, one-time drug kingpin Frank White returns to New York intent on reestablishing his empire and making things as they were before he left. Others of course have taken over the business during his absence but that clearly isn't going to stop White. While he is gunning down the opposition, he decides he's going to give away the money he'll make to modernize the hospital in his old neighborhood. Drug dealers aren't the only thing he has to worry about however: a group of rogue cops decide they are going to take him down.
Leave your thoughts about King of New York.
| San Francisco ChronicleJohn StanleyFerrara’s blend of toughness and lyricism turns this visionary crime film into something stylish, seductive and haunting. |
| Time OutGeoff AndrewA film which, despite splendid location work, lurches sloppily and messily from kill to kill, orgy to orgy, coke to crack, cliché to cliché. |
| CineVueRobert SavageWhilst King of New York isn’t, as many have claimed, Ferrara’s masterpiece, and while it may seem muddled and even unspectacular when viewed as part of the genre, it leaves a vinegary taste in one’s mouth that is both brilliant and unpleasant. |
| Chicago ReaderLisa AlspectorThe imposing performances in this chess game between pointedly black and white criminals (Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne) and police detectives (Victor Argo, Wesley Snipes, David Caruso) are as impressive as ever. |
| The A.V. ClubScott TobiasArgo's earthy features and self-effacing style make him a memorable foil to the flashier Walken. Without him, King Of New York might be written off as exploitative gangsta fare, all sleaze and decadence for its own sake. With him, it has the ballast of common decency. |
| Entertainment WeeklyPeter KobelFerrara’s movies have the iridescence of Miami Vice (Ferrara directed some episodes), the rude energy of the B’s, and a sophisticated style that glides above their subjects. King of New York careens along loonily: A gaunt Christopher Walken, his eyes beginning to bulge like Peter Lorre’s, plays an eccentric Robin Hood gangster who coolly murders his rivals but offers millions to a hospital in the South Bronx. |
| Filmcritic.comChristopher NullGiven a can't miss genre and a star at the top of the field, Ferrara turns in a big disappointment here |
| Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerAbel Ferrara, director of King of New York, is a virtuoso of grunge. He may not have all the equipment necessary to make a great movie -- he's not real big on narrative, logic, believability, human empathy -- but he sure knows how to shoot the cinematic works. In technical terms, King of New York is his most stylish job yet. In emotional terms, it's as aggressively wacked out as such earlier opuses as "Ms. 45" and "Fear City." |
| Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanDirector Abel Ferrara stages the violence in electrifying spasms, and Walken, with his undead complexion, his jittery line readings, and his stare of cold rage, mesmerizes the camera. |
| Film and FeltGabe LeibowitzKing of New York's storyline is pretty one-note, but there's an energy and aura of fear lingering in every gritty composition. |