My Kingdom

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.

Overall, I'd vote this a 7.5/10 film, if fractions were available.

I think the comments by L8Hatter (above) veer near the essential tone as to whether or not a person reading these comments might want to view the film. Nonetheless, I am rather more sympathetic than Mr/s Hatter, because I think the film is especially strong in one regard: directing.

I differ with L8Hatter re "We're supposed to believe that this tough, streetwise gang boss would be stupid enough not to see the consequences of his actions..." I believe that is an oversimplification of the presentation of a powerful figure near the end of his life not realizing how his strength and, indeed, bullying conduct of his life have kept him more than a little ignorant of the feelings of those in his own family.

While I disagree with L8Hatter's phrasing, "...the second half of the film becomes increasingly silly...", I agree that there is definite stumbling in the plot line about halfway through the third act, which is a hell of a bad place to have it.

All that said, the directing pretty much single-handedly carries the film. If one particularly enjoys that aspect of the craft, this is a should-see film. And if you haven't some powerfully better film to watch this evening, the character work, cinematography, 92% of the plot line, and definitely the superbly paced directing of action, timing and actors, mean you can make up your mind now.

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.

It's a fallacy, of course, that you can't go wrong with great source material, judging by the unholy slew of variable Shakespeare knock-offs perennially cluttering cinemas. This is one of the better ones.

Legendary British director-producer Don Boyd (the man behind Scum and The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle), uses 'King Lear' as the premise for an uncompromising tale of family (dis)loyalties, played out against the violent backdrop of gangland Liverpool.

Following his wife's murder in a street mugging, weary crime boss Sandeman (Harris) entrusts his sizeable criminal dynasty to his three daughters - one of whom, Jo (Catherwood), flatly refuses to play ball, as the other power-crazed pair, Tracey (Pilkington) and Kath (Lombard), plot his downfall. Meanwhile, a veteran customs agent, Quick (Bell), is also doggedly on his tail, determined to send him down before they both retire.

Though not the first attempt to ground Shakespeare in such territory (1955's Joe MacBeth was a misguided attempt to transpose the Scottish Play to New York's criminal underworld), My Kingdom delivers with considerable panache. While most of the basic story elements are in place, writers Boyd and 'Guardian' journalist Davies carefully avoid a straight re-telling (many lines here being playful nods to other Shakespeare works, in any case). Instead, they employ smart, darkly funny spins - witness the siblings' competing eulogies by Karaoke to their dead mother.

The performances here, from a top-flight British and Irish cast, are exemplary. Harris, as the shattered Sandeman, proves one needn't have lived the life of a cloistered monk to produce great performances in your seventies.

I started checking out Don Boyd's work after seeing his documentary work. What a beautiful, dark and witty film this is, written with Nick Davies who is a superb Guardian writer - his input must have been important although the cinematic imagery and the quirky, witty performances complement the originality of the script.There is some fantastic funny dialogue. Liverpool's landscape has never been portrayed like this before and Boyd gave the great Richard Harris the tools for a superb display of acting intelligence. It is on occasions brutal and uncompromising and the script plays cunningly with the premise - that the court and story of Shakespeare's King Lear can be transplanted to modern crime corrupted Liverpool. It also takes liberties with the fates of Lear's feuding daughters. Cordelia survives but all the actresses who play the girls are wonderfully cast and are all very believable. I have visited Liverpool. All of what Boyd shows is true. Even the evil Sikh character and the corrupt cop, an almost existential performance by Aidan Gillen is unforgettable. A great and seemingly under-rated film although i noticed that really good film critics like Philip French and the man from the LA Times gave it a great review. Compared to other Britsih films it stands out. I wished I could have seen it on a big screen but the DVD i bought had some great extras including some screen tests - I have not seen that before except on a James Dean DVD once.(drool,drool). By the way I am a girl and it is quite violent. But don't believe the nonsense those guys on this site who have written about it so negatively.See it and make up your own mind. Even if you don't like all of it, you will be fascinated as I was. Pity there will be no more Richard Harris movies. He was a great.