Fri., Dec. 6, 2002 12:00 AM PST
Blimey, the bleedin' Bard's in Liverpool! This British mob-world reworking of Shakespeare's
King Lear centers on big-cheese crime lord, Richard Harris, whose kingdom comes crashing down after wife Lynn Redgrave is killed. Weary and grief-stricken, Harris turns his illegal empire over to his three daughters. Big mistake. His youngest (Emma Catherwood) turns her back on his dirty-money dynasty, leaving the two scheming, power-hungry daughters--brothel owner Louise Lombard and football club owner Lorraine Pilkington--to plot dear ol' dad's demise.
The cast reigns supreme, especially Harris, whose regal presence as the aging emperor of gangland grounds the story even as it suffers from narrative overload. Despite the needlessly convoluted second half and a dopey subplot involving some drug-smuggling cattle (insert cash-cows joke here), this darkly comic and compelling
Kingdom is still worth a visit.
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