Kill the Irishman (2011) **

2011's “Kill the Irishman” starts out fairly strong, with the charismatic Ray Stevenson playing real-life,Cleveland gangster Danny Green in this rise-and-fall tale. The film dramatizes the story of Danny Green's rise from poor, Irish street urchin to union leader to disgraced union leader to mobbed-up crime figure in the 1960s and 70s. Danny eventually got involved in a historical Mob war that made car-bombings a regular fixture of late-1970s Cleveland, and which ultimately led to major shakeups and criminal convictions among the American Mafia. Danny was truly a part of history, and he gained a reputation, for a while, as being impossible to kill.

Unfortunately, the movie mirrors the depiction of Danny's love life. Early on, Danny meets and marries Joan, played by Linda Cardellini, whose is adorable and a solid enough actress to provide a convincing foil for the increasingly-criminal Danny. That part of the film is really compelling. After that marriage falls apart, Danny meets Ellie, played by Laura Ramsey, who hits her marks and recites her lines, but has no personality. This second half of the film steadily dwindles down into treacle and sentimentality.

Dramatizing the story of a real-life Mafia figure as it does, “Kill the Irishman” draws natural comparisons to Martin Scorcese's “Goodfellas,” but believe me, this movie is no “Goodfellas.” The film has a strong cast, including Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, and it suffices as light entertainment, but the saccharine third act ruined it for me.

2 stars out of 5