Hell's Kitchen NYC (1998)
Also known as "Hell's Kitchen"
The road to redemption is covered in blood
Starring: Rosanna Arquette, William Forsythe, Angelina Jolie, Mekhi Phifer, Johnny Whitworth
Director: Tony Cinciripini
Running Time: 101 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 15
Drama
On DVD Mekhi Phifer plays Johnny Miles, a resident of the mean streets in New York. He becomes involved in a robbery in which his accomplice Hayden McNeary (Ryan Slater) is shot and killed. Although Johnny was not the one who killed Hayden, he is convicted of the crime and serves five years in jail. When he is released, Hayden's sister Gloria (Angelina Jolie) confronts him and threatens to kill him, blaming him for the death of her brother.
She tries to get her boyfriend Patty (Johnny Whitworth) to kill Johnny, but he is reluctant as he knows the truth about who killed Hayden. In the meantime, Johnny has been doing well at trying to straighten his life out. He has a place at the local stables which he calls home, and he is building a promising career as a professional boxer. When Gloria catches Patty in bed with her mother (Rosanna Arquette) she walks out on him, and in his desperation to get her back he will finally tell her the truth.
Average at best, this film perhaps tries too hard. Its attempts to look stylish often fail, with some of the camera angles and visual tricks simply coming across as contrived or silly, and moments that are meant to be atmospheric simply slowing the pace of the film. The characters are apparently meant to be warts-and-all genuine street folk but, with the exception of Johnny, they seem far from normal. This impression is not helped by the number of times we have to look in on their sex lives. Mekhi Phifer does a sound job with the role of Johnny, but it's hard for him to do much with the clichéd reformed bad guy story. The director has gone for the emotional approach in this film, but sadly that doesn't work when it's hard to care about most of the characters and what happens to them.
DVD Extras: Only a trailer with this basic release.
It's Got: Angelina Jolie with few clothes on - one to keep the boys happy.
It Needs: A lot more pace at times, and characters with more appeal.
Alternatives: Once Were Warriors, Baby Boy, Boyz N the Hood.
Summary: An unremarkable film that largely fails to appeal - likely to please few of the people most of the time, with the exception of those seeking only to ogle Angelina Jolie.
Review by Andrea Chee
Review Date: 24th May 2003
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External Links
Hell's Kitchen NYC at the IMDB
