I came into this movie with no expectations other than it was supposed to be decent. And what is it? A gangster movie, a character study, both?

In the end it's neither and it revels in it's own self importance. I don't want to spend too long on it because nothing really happens. There isn't much in the way of suspense (unless you count melodrama), there isn't much in the way of logic, and there isn't much in the way of identifying with any of the main characters.

The lead is Al Pacino lite, all moody silences and exhortations about the right way to do things etcetc. You're supposed to feel the force of his character and his own self belief I suppose, but all I saw was a self important hood (with a decent vocabulary) endlessly pontificating about not much at all.

Avoid. Although it's an interesting time capsule back to the 80s I suppose.