King Of New York – Special Edition (DVD Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
There are
not enough good films with Christopher Walken in them. That is a fact of cinematic life, but the
films are usually better when he is in the lead or sharing top billing. Abel Ferrara’s King Of New York (1989) is one of the better Walken films and he
helps to carry it, even when the film becomes predictable and obvious. Like too many bad Horror films, Gangster
pictures get silly when it is obvious half-way through the film, if not sooner,
that everyone will die. That
predictability is tired.
What
makes this film worth seeing at least once is the cast, including Laurence
Fishburne (when he was Larry), Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito
and many familiar character actor faces you would not know unless you saw
them. Frank White (Walken) is out of
prison and that is going to shake up the entire way all the organized crime has
settled and become complacent across racial and money lines.
Ferrara makes this come alive with
energy, which is sometimes enough to plow over the clichés, but the 106 minutes
eventually seem too long and it felt like dozens of opportunities were
missed. It is also dated a bit by the
films of Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino, not to mention Martin Scorsese. 1990, when the film went wide, was loaded
with Gangster genre films that make this seem a bit tame and dated at
times. It is also yet another film
influenced by Michael Cimino’s 1985 genre classic (which exceeds genre) Year Of The Dragon, but seems too
politically incorrect by comparison, despite some characters that may seem like
two-dimensional stereotypes at points.
It still has its following, as evidenced by Artisan’s (now owned by
Lionsgate) elaborate DVD re-release here, but is also one of Ferrara’s more
accessible films. Maybe he went too far
in being standard, but the Nicholas St. John screenplay is strong enough and it
is a film that at least deserves a following.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image shows its age at times, but this is a
nice clean transfer otherwise, with only the finest of details not what it
should be. For its budget, the
cinematography by Bojan Bazelli is impressive.
Video Black is solid enough and fleshtones are accurate throughout the
multi-racial cast, making it unique demo material. The Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 mix is a step
above the 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds, but both are from the theatrical
analog SR sound. It sounds oddly dated,
though that may be the tampering with the original sound and going down one
level, plus the fact that this was still a low-budget production.
Extras
are across both DVDs, starting with two commentary tracks by Ferrara and the
other by other behind-the-scenes personnel, then continuing with the original
theatrical trailer and a featurette on Ferrara entitled The Long Career Of Abel Ferrara, which is 47 minutes long, is also
anamorphically enhanced and originates on video. DVD 2 offers a lame full screen version of
the film instead of the Microsoft Media Player 9.0 High Definition version some
other Artisan sets had offered. You also
get 2 TV previews, A Schooly D Music Video and a videotaped, anamorphically
enhanced featurette from 2003 on Schooly D, who was an inspiration for this film.
Another
reason Artisan had decided to release this set was the amazing DVD reissue
success of Brian De Palma’s Scarface
(1983), which was a disappointment in its sound remix. If Artisan had DTS on this set, they would
have totally outstripped Universal’s hit.
Otherwise, fans and the interested will enjoy this new set of King Of New York.
For more
on the new Blu-ray edition, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5978/King+Of+New+York+–+Special+Edition
- Nicholas Sheffo
