*SPOILER* for this films entire subtext/overriding theme below<br /><br />Karen (Saffron Burrows playing it a bit too shrill for my taste, but far from shaming herself) is not the object of Gangster no 55's affections; she was not the person that 55 would rather see dead than be without...<br /><br />It's Freddy Mays.<br /><br />This fact is so barely concealed that its subtext very nearly *IS* the text.<br /><br />To everyone who's reviewed this (by my judgment) excellent film and found that Gangster no. 55 character was run of the mill of any other you'd see in this genre, I challenge you --respectfully-- to give it a second chance, only this time, read between the lines and watch the film take on real life.<br /><br />I promise, the text in between is written in red ink and marked with yellow highlighter. <br /><br />"Gangster no.1" is a story of hideous violence, ambition fueled backstabbing... and unrequited love not at all where at surface glance it appears to be.<br /><br />Rate: 4/5