A Violent Priest Takes on Drug Dealers
In Father Joe, directed by Barthélémy Grossmann and written by Luc Besson, Kiefer Sutherland plays a priest who wages war on Manhattan's drug dealers. The film is set in the pre-internet 1990s in New York. It opens with gangster Lino (Michael Rispoli) visiting a drug lab, where he is attacked by Father Joe, who shoots him in the foot and forces him to confess.[S1]
Father Joe lets Lino live under two conditions: no selling drugs to minors, and Lino must attend Communion weekly to receive an antidote for a virus Father Joe injects into him. The virus becomes deadly within seven days. At the church, Lino finds other mobsters taking blue pills instead of wafers.[S1]
Crime Boss Giu Declares War
Father Joe's operation attracts the attention of crime boss Giu (Al Pacino), who is infected with the same virus after being lured into a confession box. Giu, however, gets a medical check-up and then declares war on Father Joe. The story also involves missing children and a hospital with dubious organ transplants.[S1]
The film includes a subplot with Felicity (Ever Anderson), a 16-year-old drug casualty who wants to join Father Joe's mission. The action escalates with a fistfight in an elevator and a high body count. The review notes that Pacino gives center stage to Sutherland, and the film is described as fun and unbelievably funny.[S1]
