Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, Kill the Irishman chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob.
This is the story of the irishman, Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson), a corrupt union man, who ended up as sort of a Robin Hood figure of Cleveland. This is the story of how he rose in the ranks, making countless of enemies along the way. This is also the story of how they tried to kill him, but failed.
I've never heard of Danny Greene, but the movie paints a nice realistic picture of the 1970s. This is not a pleasant world, but one where everyone is trying to get their piece of the cake. Danny himself is a hard one to figure out, is he good, is he bad? The one moment he helps out a friend in need, the next... he is killing people. I kinda like the fact that he is a person with both sides to him, allowing us to make up our own mind about him. Life is never as simple as most movies would like us to think it is.
The movie itself is a little messy, and I had expected a bit more from the cast, but of course, this is a movie based on actual events and characters, and of course that means that they can't change too much. In minor roles we find Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, both excellent actors that tend to make quirky and interesting characters, but not so much here.
Last words... a solid movie that gives us some insight into a man who really lived and breathed. It has some heart, for sure, but ain't all that interesting when it comes down to it. I probably won't ever see it a second time, but I definitely survived seeing it once.