Henchmen
are notorious for being the ones behind the crime boss’s dirty work. They have
to deal with the paperwork, so to speak. The
Henchman’s War is therefore an interesting take on the henchman’s story,
rather than the crime boss. Director Anthony M. Greene does well to document
the title character’s journey and fills the story with enough conflict to make
the finale satisfying.
Joe
King (Rick Kain) is a loyal henchman, serving crime boss Tony “Cubby” Wagner
(Robert Leembruggen) with no issues for twenty some years. At least until a hit
on a councilman leads to the subsequent murder of Miranda Coates (Andrea R.
Baker), the woman Joe loves. Now, deviating from the original plan and out for
revenge, Joe goes through everyone he has to—including fellow henchmen—in order
to get to Cubby.
Cubby,
an almost understanding crime boss, has his own set of problems, which includes
his deteriorating relationship with his unhappy wife Sandra (Jane Petkofksy).
Sandra is outraged with the way Cubby’s been running the show, which is so far
from the way her father used to do things.
It honestly looks like Sandra would
the better fit since she sees the position her husband is in as an honor.
Cubby, on the other hand, is having moral dilemmas about everything he’s been doing
and all the unnecessary killing. It’s an intriguing dynamic that leads to great
confrontations.
As
Anthony M. Greene’s first feature film, he doesn’t do a bad job. You can tell
the film is low budget, but with the exception of a few scenes, this fact doesn’t
take away from the movie as a whole. The film starts out slow and mysterious
and slowly and surely builds its way to a good confrontation between Cubby and
Joe that uses great lighting to set the mood.
In
fact, Greene is all about lighting. There are very noticeable dark and light
shots that add to the story and its sense of foreboding for the characters. There’s
a scene in a warehouse between Joe and a rival mob boss that uses this dark
setting effectively. Other creative choices of note are the backseat and
driving camera shots Greene chooses to use. There is a lot of driving going on
in the film as Joe makes his way from one place to another and this effectively
signifies the journey his character takes from beginning to end.
The
most interesting dynamic (and frankly the best characters and acting in the
film) takes place between Sandra and Cubby. Robert Leembruggen and Jane
Petkofksy really sell their plight and their big confrontation really rounds
out their points of view. They make the film much more intriguing to watch than
if it had just chosen to focus on Joe, whose character is layered enough but
lacks the emotional depth that Leembruggen and Petkofksy’s characters have.
The Henchman’s War could have used benefitted
from the use of a bigger budget and more character depth for Joe, who doesn’t
talk much; everything we learn about him comes from his interactions with
everyone else. But Greene does a good job with maintaining the story and not
letting it fly off into random territory. It might have been fun to explore
more of the world in which Cubby and his henchman operate, but Greene does well
to focus some much deserved attention on Leembruggen and Petkofksy, the
strongest actors and storyline in the film. Overall, The Henchman’s War is not a bad way to start Greene’s feature film
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