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How others will see it. The Coen brothers have a deservedly dedicated following, and this is another fine effort. Raising Arizona it isn't, and it isn't much of a comedy either. But it is a mystery, and a pretty good one at that. The real mystery is Byrne's motivations and loyalties. Where do they lie?
Of course, the Coens have stocked the movie with highly regarded character actors, including Coen regular John Turturro. John Goodman does not appear, but Albert Finney does, in addition to Byrne, Jon Polito, and Steve Buscemi.
How I felt about it. Did the mobs ever really run Chicago, or any other big city? Sure, the police at low and perhaps middle levels were on the take. But did the mayor and police chief serve at the beck and call to mob bosses? Probably not. Or maybe I'm just naive.
In a mob movie, a given mobster has a half-life of thirty minutes. That is, at any point in the movie with thirty minutes left, the mobster has a 50% chance of getting snuffed before the half hour has passed.
This is how the classic Hollywood theme "crime doesn't pay" is presented in modern mob cinema. To the victor goes the spoils of the rackets. But so few are victors, since most everyone dies.
Gabriel Byrne isn't a likely survivor. First of all, he's a lousy gambler. That makes him the opposite of Robert De Niro in Casino, who survives because he's profitable. Byrne has other problems. His loyalties are in doubt, and he has more enemies than friends.
He only survives because it's a movie, and he has the advantage of being the protagonist. This means he is immortal, at least until the final scene. The major cinematic exception to this rule is Psycho, which turns the cards on the viewer in the infamous shower scene.
The way the story unfolds, it appears that Byrne has been working all along to save Albert Finney's life and position. The problem with this is that Finney should have been killed at least twice, but his invulnerability when holding a magic tommy gun (it never runs out of ammo) is what really ensures his survival. Finney's thanks shouldn't go to Byrne, but to a firearms manufacturer.