“Lucky Number Slevin” (The Weinstein Company)
Too Clever For Its Own Good
“Lucky Number Slevin” is one of those movies that you know from the start is going to be full of false identities, red herrings, and fake plot twists. And you are right. This film has more twists and turns than a slalom trail. The only problem is it turns out the movie is too clever for its own good. It is so caught up in its cleverness that it forgets about having likeable characters and a plot that makes sense. You walk out of the theater being impressed, but you also have a who cares attitude about it all.
The movie starts with Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) talking with a guy in a train station. He tells him the story of a fixed horse race that ended badly for a young father who bet on the “rigged” horse. Goodkat describes a variety of scenes of violence that occurred. Then he commits a violent act himself.
Later we meet a guy named Slevin (Josh Hartnett) who is staying in the apartment of his good friend Nick. The girl across the hall (Lucy Liu) drops in and wonders who he is. He states he is just a friend of Nick’s. Later two sets of thugs come by and threaten him because they think he is Nick, and Nick owes them money. They don’t believe him when he says he is not Nick.
The film rolls along from there with Slevin getting threatened by two rival gang bosses – The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). These two men hate each other and spend their days locked in tower apartments that face each other.
Eventually all of the plot twists are explained, and there are a billion of them, and the death and destruction finally stops. It all makes semi-sense but by this point you are overcome by all the cleverness and just want to relax. You also don’t feel like any of the killers are heroes despite their motivations.
The acting in the movie is good. Hartnett is pretty good as the much maligned Slevin, while Lucy Liu is cute as a button as the wacky girl across the hall. Willis is cool personified as Mr. Goodkat and Freeman is kindly but deadly as “the boss.” Best of them all is Kingsley who is fascinating as “the Rabbi.” He is so evil he makes your flesh creep.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
You can’t rest at any point in this movie. You have to constantly be on your toes because to take a break is to miss a key plot point. And once you lose a key point you are hopelessly lost for the duration.
“Lucky Number Slevin” sails just beneath the level of movie greatness. It has the potential but outdoes itself by striving so hard to be clever, and confusing. “Pulp Fiction” walked the line, as did “The Usual Suspects.” “Lucky Number Slevin” is one level below.
I scored “Lucky Number Slevin” a seven comes eleven 6 out of 10.
