elshikh4
I couldn't understand why the wife turned the mugger's gun aside from her to her husband's face? I couldn't understand how the child grandson was the computer Warlock of the gang ?!! I couldn't believe how eccentric the lead's monologue was in the restaurant ! And I couldn't have any enjoyment out of this "King Lear" in the first place !! The ambition was fine. A modern-day adaptation. A crime king instead of a king. And filthy rotten character for a filthy rotten world. But something was missing, or extra. I know that both ways, the movie was uninteresting and heavy.It's dark movie. However, its characters were talking like they're from another world. The tragedy hasn't been treated well to be something as The Godfather, or smart apart. Simply the shadows of the real play were bigger than the case which the script selected, so the movie lived a killer irony.The artistic points managed to portray effective sense of grief, but they didn't make up for the lost credibility, and gave the movie even more outlandish feel. (My Kingdom) is sometimes too theatrical to be believed, too gloomy to be attractive and too silly to be re-watched again! It's not a great tragedy. Not a great crime film. Maybe the average both yet with an odd character pushes it even to the weak side. In any event.. I hated it!
Ali Catterall
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.
kittykatjazz
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.
Barry (manson21)
This film is about gangster in the mean streets of Liverpool about the ups and down of the underworld and one man who was at the top became bottom after what the family did to him. There is some nice acting northing really bloody in the film but can't understand why its an 18 and over to watched this film but anyway it had a fine cast but really felt sorry for the little boy.I did find Sexy Beast alot better then this but My Kingdom is worth watching and mostly BRITISH GANGSTER FILMS ARE ALOT BETTER THEN AMERICAN GANGSTER FILMSGive this film 5/10
AD
