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How others will see it. This film has only one drawback for mainstream American audiences: the accents. Only Helen Mirren, bless her upper class background, is clearly understood. My recording lacked closed captioning, but this will probably be rectified in on the official DVD.
Beyond this solitary problem, this is a movie that many will relish. There is Godfather or Sopranos style mob intrigue. Ambushes, stabbings, bombings, interrogations. Everything but sex. Helen Mirren is attractive, but not too much, and she keeps her respectable clothes on during her fifteen minutes of screen time.
How I felt about it. The first twenty minutes or so is confusing. Fortunately, the movie makes more sense when seen a second time. It's a pretty good film. Hoskins is little-known on this side of the Atlantic, with the sole exception of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Hoskins was the non-animated lead. He's a bang-up actor who physically resembles Danny De Vito.
Clearly, Hoskins is spoiled. For ten years, he has been the unchallenged gangster kingpin of London. Even the police accept him, because they know he's better than the alternative, which is war between rival gang factions.
Hoskins' moment of truth arrives when he finally realizes what he is up against: the IRA. But he refuses to heed advice to settle with the IRA, instead of trying to push them out of London through bloodshed. Hoskins' need to be the top man is his undoing. His anger, when denied what he wants, is his fatal weakness.
Hoskins is the dinosaur that can't adapt to the change in climate. The film's message is to share power rather than oppose it. Be a good loser. These lessons are uncinematic, unless you demonstrate what not to do. Mistakes are more interesting than perfection.