Kill the Irishman

This biopic about Cleveland mobster Danny Greene, starts with a bang. Literally. Greene is driving down the street, and suddenly his car blows up. Get used to it. Dozens of other vehicles (plus their unfortunate occupants) explode in the movie, including the one that killed Greene in 1977. But this one, from 1975, didn’t finish the job. “Is that all you got?” asks Greene, as he brushes off debris. Ray Stevenson plays Greene as a hard-ass, a womanizer, a rabble-rouser, a loyal friend, even a progressive. Director and co-writer Jonathan Hensleigh doesn’t turn away from Greene’s hot temper or the fact that his hunger for power filled Cleveland’s streets with blood. In some ways, Kill the Irishman wants to be a straight-up gangster pic. But in so many other ways, it’s a standard biopic – which just happens to be about a gangster. There’s some blood and bullets. But there’s also a strong narrative driving the film.