Movie Review
Title: Lucky Number Slevin
Genre: Drama/Crime Thriller
Release Date: Theatrical Release 4/27/06, DVD Release 9/12/06
Stars: Sir Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, Josh Harnett, Lucy Liu
Director: Paul McGuigan
MPAA Rating: R
Reason for Rating: For strong violence, sexuality and language
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Slevin Kavalera (Josh Hartnett) is in all the wrong places at the wrong time. He shows up at his friend’s house to re-group after losing his job, his apartment and finding his girlfriend in bed with someone else. When he shows up to his friend’s NY apartment he is met by thugs and “asked” to go meet the boss (Morgan Freeman) to settle some gambling debt. After he returns, he is met by another set of thugs, of the kosher variety and “asked” to meet with the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), whom he also owes money. This tale of mistaken identity twists and turns with a world class assassin and an Asian beauty (Lucy Liu) thrown in to make the batter thicker. Fixed horse racing, murder, rabbinical vendetta, and revenge. What else could you want in a movie?
This is a smart and tasty screenplay written by Jason Smilovic. The director translates the script very well and the DP does a fantastic job of choosing nice shots. OK, enough with the techno jargon, but it deserved to be mentioned. What a cast, how can you go wrong with a cast like this; and they delivered. I enjoyed the puzzle, I enjoyed it being put together, but most of all I enjoyed the dialog. Crisp and to the point, light and funny, but informative and witty. I liked this movie. It’s nice to think that production companies are still looking for smart films. Rent this movie, watch it, laugh, puzzle and laugh some more. Slevin separates itself from the pack as a real gamer and ingratiates itself into Film Noir lore.
Hit or No Hit: Slevin gets a solid double hitting one to the gap, but solid acting allows it to leg out an extra base, ending up at third and threatening to score.
