Lucky Number Slevin (2006) August 19, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Paul McGuigan
A case of mistaken identity puts you in the middle of an ongoing war between dangerous rival city gangs. It also turns out that ‘you’ owe them both money, and you may have to kill someone in order to replay the debt. You’ve lost your apartment, your girlfriend and you’ve been mugged & left with a broken nose. On the plus side, you may have a shot with Lucy Liu. What would you do?
That’s the position that Josh Hartnett finds himself in as Slevin, the unlucky title character of this enjoyable caper movie. In addition, Morgan Freeman takes a welcome turn at being a gang boss (called simply ‘The Boss’), as does Ben Kingsley playing rival leader ‘The Rabbi’. Bruce Willis is the mysterious hitman, Goodkat, who plays puppet master for most of the movie and sets up a whole host of plot twists. Lucy Liu is the ‘girl next door’ with a detective streak, and Stanley Tucci is the police presence watching them all. Now, with the characters in place, it’s time to use unleash the Kansas City shuffle – which is pretty much what the whole movie is about.
The plotting is good, and it manages to make the most of three main locations: The apartment, the Boss’s office and the Rabbi’s office. Slevin spends most of the film in, or travelling back & forth between, these places. The script also has some nice flourishes reminiscent of last years Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, although not quite up to that standard. Hartnett and Liu have some particularly fast-paced exchanges which, while not true to life, add just the right amount of humour to the proceedings.
Director Paul McGuigan does a great job of blending the lighter & darker sides of the story together without showing the seams, and handles the broken narrative structure well. My only criticism is that when we discover a twist, the explanation flashbacks are a little heavy handed – as if we wouldn’t understand it unless we see every single moment that got us there. It’s not too detrimental though, and at least the movie bothers to tie up its own loose ends properly and let us know how everyone is involved.
Even without the sense of mystery this is still an entertaining picture. The cast all have fun in their various roles, and the story has enough going on to keep you guessing up until the end. Just make sure you don’t look left, when you should be looking right.
Comments»
Really good movie! I loved it!