Review of Hell's Kitchen

This crazy film won't win awards, or end up on some critic's "best of" lists. It is a like a diamond, albeit an uncut, unpolished one. "Hell's Kitchen" starts out like a thousand other crime thrillers, with the ultra violent robbery and shootout gone wrong. But the opening is deceptive, as it soon moves into some very dramatic territory. Every scene of this movie is filled with so much passionate rage and drama, and sadness that it at times looks like someone took the most exciting scenes from three movies, spliced them together and created this one movie. Basically a character study, a love triangle and a family drama, Rosanna Arquette turns in an unforgettable, over the top performance as Liz, a woman wallowing in self destruction and heroin addiction. She plays Gloria's (Angelina Jolie's) mother, and the way she betrays and hurts her daughter somehow never makes the viewer think that she doesn't love her intensely. Her son Haydon died in that botched robbery attempt, and both mom and daughter are emotionally destroyed by it. Old wounds are opened when Johnny, the third one involved in the robbery, is released from a five year prison stint for causing the death of Haydon. The punchline is that he only took the blame for what Gloria's boyfriend actually did; fire the bullet that killed her brother. Who was really responsible? Gloria's supremely messed up boyfriend, the sniveling, emotional wreck, Patty. And when the reformed Johnny wants to get his life together by trying his hand at professional boxing, he must deal with Gloria's desire for revenge. There are a lot of tears and anger in this passionate indie drama, as well as an abundance of blood, drug use and violent sexuality. it's all here in this emotionally draining movie. It's also filled with some very sleazy characters, drug dealers, crooked boxing promoters, prostitutes, but nobody seems to be one dimensional. Every character seems to have a reason for being who they are. I also want to mention New York City, and the way it is captured in this one. Was Manhattan really ever that edgy and scuzzy? Yes, it was, as late as the beginning of the 2000's. Today Hell's Kitchen is nothing more than an unexciting outdoor shopping mall for for wealthy, boring pricks. But in 1998, it really was a playground for prostitutes, after hours bars, and especially crack dealers and addicts. Then all that started to get edged out by construction of luxury buildings and high end restaurants. In this way, "Hell's Kitchen" remains an important documentation of a time that no longer exists. Only the horse stables remain. This movie will appeal to those that lived there during the 90's. It should also be searched out by fans of Angelina Jolie as she gives one of her sexiest, and most "off the rails" performances here...even though Rosanna Arquette outshines them all. Best seen via the new Bluray, as it restores the film to it's original widescreen picture ratio, which makes a big difference.