My Kingdom

Yet another film inspired by 'King Lear'; this time set in the world of drug running and violence in rundown Liverpool. This makes it as quirky a setting as Imperial Japan (Ran) or the wild West (Broken Lance) but it doesn't quite come off.

Yes, the parallels are there. Richard Harris as Sandeman gives up control of his gangster empire to his two unlikeable daughters while effectively 'banishing' the youngest; there is a character who has his eyes put out as Gloucester did ... and yet, behind this inspiration the story is thin indeed.

Beautifully shot and atmospheric in its detail of the bleak Merseyside setting, this film disappoints with largely poor acting and a cop-out ending - where we should have had fire and brimstone, we had a whimper.

Richard Harris however is excellent, as ever, in a towering performance which makes me grieve that we never got to see him play Lear for real. There are few actors who could put this complex character across (a variant on the one he played in 'Trojan Eddie', sure, but a meaty role none the less). He's let down by the script but with what he has to work with he is impressive and the one reason to see this film.

A film found in DVD/VCR recorder I just bought. I would not have seen it otherwise. So thanks to whoever tested it with this film and left it in it.

This film is a story about a family in the criminal underworld. The terms Gangsters and Mobsters give the wrong impression, it is supposed to be inspired by King Lear after all. My wife who studied King Lear at college, found the underlying story and characters did resemble that of King Lear.

A controlling father toward the end of his life finds rebellion in the family. It is quite believable that someone as busy as he appears to have been in his life misses out on the most important things with his daughters,(love etc) and finds a chasm he did not know existed.

Events unfold and he has to set straight the dishonourable way his daughters treat him. The cold and calculating way in which this is done is what makes a "gangster" not the usual portrayal of beating up everyone who disagrees with them, but if you cross them that is a different matter. People like the Krays, were in the minority in doing this, or they would not have been so infamous.

All in all an enjoyable dark film.

and one his best. He plays the boss of a Liverpool rime family, whose own naivety brings his downfall. This is based on King Lear but it doesn´t really work for me here. We´re supposed to believe that this tough, streetwise gang boss would be stupid enough not to see the consequences of his actions (I don´t want to give the story away, but those familiar with King Lear will know what happens. This supposed sudden naivety goes totally aginst the grain of the character Harris portrays in the film up until his fateful decision.

It was an interesting idea but just doesn´t work for me and the second half of the film becomes increasingly silly as a consequence. I´ve also no idea why one of the main gangsters is a Sihk. Liverpool is unusual amongst British cities in having a very small asian population and I don´t think I´ve ever seen a Sihk there. Strange.

That said, it´s not a bad film. There´s some good camerawork, Harris is on good form and the supporting cast are mostly very good. 8/10 for the first half of the film, 5/10 for the second.

I like this movie. Someone mentioned in a previous comment that they must be use to the mobsters in the US because of the demur wife etc. I disagree completely. I went to school with a few children of the Mob and they were all very low keyed people. The family of the mob are far removed from the action. My friends mothers looked like most people mothers. They don't walk around looking or acting flamboyant. They are just regular folks married to a mobster. I did not even know they were children of mobsters until YEARS later. That is how low keyed they are. That is why I like this movie. The mobsters in here are not bombastic ala Goodfella's, which is not really true to form. They have problems with their kids like everyone else. They have a life that we the public see but they have the life we don't see. But mostly only their associates see. If every mobster looked and acted the way the Goodfella's portrayed them the Mob would not exist because they would no longer be a secretly run organization. The mob thrives on secrecy and a need to look legit. Mr Harris portrays that type of modern mobster. In this movie his daughters seem to be rebelling. One runs a whore house, one is a ex pro junkie. In the US most of the mob daughters are either married or very highly educated or both. So it is unusual to have all 3 of his daughters rebel. This is a nice small movie, with a little violence. But I feel it is a more realistic portrayal of mobster then the movies we usually see in the United States. Oh one last note the guy that plays the young cop is now on The Wire playing a very ambitious politician...with a New York accent. It is strange seeing him acting in his native tongue.Actually The Wire has more then a few actors from Great Britian

My Kingdom was sufficiently entertaining for a rainy Sunday but that is where the upside ends.

Maybe it's that I'm American and have been overexposed to Capone, Gotti and Luciano but the characters in this movie fall miserably short as mobsters. Rule one: Mobsters are scary people. Mother (Mandy) and daughter (Jo) are so wholesome they could pass for GoodHousekeeping covergirls (Mandy even resembles Martha Stewart!). Apparently, Jo (Moll-turned-preppy coed) managed to just "walk away" from her position with "The Chair". Shouldn't she be dead?

Dad is apparently so important that he asks the lowest of thugs, "Do you know who I am?". Where are his bodyguards? Why is he sitting in the cheap seats at the show? Also, it would have been nice if someone clued us in as to how this giant-among-men built his empire: Drugs? Prostitution? Gambling? Stamp-collecting?

Lastly: Where was the trademark blood? Guess the budget was too low for a few bottles of Ketchup.

All-in-all, My Kingdom had a good plot-line and decent actors but it was a little low-calorie for my gangster-genre diet.