Suicide Kings

Suicide Kings is a 1997 American crime thrillerblack comedy film directed by Peter O'Fallon, and starring Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto and Henry Thomas. Based on Don Stanford's short story "The Hostage", the film follows the group of students who kidnap a respected former Mafia figure.

Charlie Barret walks to his private table in a restaurant, only to see a group of young men sitting at his table – Avery, Max, and Brett. 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". When they go out, the young men knock out Charlie and kidnap him.

When Charlie wakes up, he sees himself surrounded by the three men, and a fourth friend, T. K., who 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, and is told that the same was done to Elise.

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, and asks him to track Charlie down. Lono goes about his own investigation, often using violent means. Meanwhile, Charlie seems to take perverse pleasure in playing mind games with his kidnappers. During the course of these conversations, Charlie unnerves the friends with stories of his early years as a gangster, especially concerning some former neighbors of his that he had killed and then fed their remains to their Dobermans. Another story was how he got his signet ring.

Meanwhile Marty, Charlie's attorney, conducts his own investigation. He speaks to Lydia, a successful madam, whose life Charlie had saved, many years ago, from her former lover and pimp. Lydia gives Marty a list of contacts.

As Lono searches for Charlie, Charlie takes advantage of the boys' naïveté. A fifth friend, Ira, shows up unexpectedly and demands an explanation. They tell him 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 in front of the others. As his enraged friends plan to cut off his finger, Avery stops them by admitting that it was actually his plan, and says he recruited Max to help him. Avery had 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: Become an inside man in his own sister's kidnapping.

Lono eventually makes his way to Ira's house and forces the young men to remove Charlie from his restraints. Around the same time, the money is sent to the two thugs who are demanding the ransom and they agree that Elise will be dropped off at a nearby hospital. Lono and Charlie drive away and Avery rushes to meet his sister at the appointed drop-off, but she does not appear.

Charlie and Lono track down the two kidnappers and demand the money back, who do not have the full amount. When Charlie and Lono demand to know where Elise is, they insist that they never kidnapped her, before Lono shoots them dead. 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 tropical island where Lono shoots them both dead.

Suicide Kings was shot in Los Angeles.^[3]

La película también presenta dos finales alternativos. ^{[ 4 ]} En uno de ellos, Charlie permite que Max y Elise vivan, pero reclama el millón de dólares, devolviéndoles una pequeña parte. En el otro final, Charlie también los deja vivir, pero se queda con su dinero, tras lo cual Lono dispara agujeros en el barco, provocando que se hunda lentamente. Sin embargo, al público de prueba no le gustaron tanto estos finales, pues consideraban que Max y Elise debían pagar por la traición a sus amigos y el dolor que les habían causado.

Rotten Tomatoes , un agregador de reseñas , informa que el 34% de los 32 críticos encuestados dieron una reseña positiva de la película; la calificación promedio es de 5.4/10. ^{[ 5 ]}

Metacritic , que utiliza un promedio ponderado , asignó a la película una puntuación de 43 sobre 100, basada en 15 críticos, lo que indica críticas "mixtas o promedio". ^{[ 6 ]}

Joe Leydon de Variety escribió: "Con un guiño a Quentin Tarantino y un guiño apreciativo a Orphans de Lyle Kessler , Suicide Kings es un drama inteligente y ágil teñido de humor negro y rebosante de autoconfianza". ^{[ 7 ]} James Berardinelli de ReelViews escribió: "Si bien la narrativa es un poco demasiado errática para alcanzar el nivel de Pulp Fiction , el tono y el estilo son acertados. Para aquellos a quienes no les ofende la extrema profanidad y violencia, Suicide Kings ofrece dos horas dinámicas y sorprendentemente divertidas". ^{[ 8 ]} David Luty de Film Journal International la llamó "un desastre enrevesado y sin sentido" que toma prestado demasiado de Tarantino. ^{[ 9 ]} Stephen Holden de The New York Times escribió que la película entretendrá a aquellos a quienes no les preocupan los agujeros de la trama o la credibilidad. ^{[ 10 ]} Kevin Thomas de Los Angeles Times la llamó "una película B inteligente con muchos A+". ^{[ 3 ]} Owen Gleiberman de Entertainment Weekly la calificó con C− y la llamó "otra imitación de los primeros trabajos de Quentin Tarantino", ^{[ 11 ]} al igual que Gene Siskel y Roger Ebert en su programa . ^{[ 12 ]}

• Película al estilo Tarantino

• Suicide Kings en IMDb
• Suicide Kings en Box Office Mojo
• Suicide Kings en Rotten Tomatoes
• Suicide Kings en Metacritic