Review of My Kingdom

My Kingdom (2001)
Richard Harris´s last performance apparently,
21 December 2003
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.
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