Review of Lucky Number Slevin (2006) by Stevenf — 13 Apr 2013

It's maybe just a case that Lucky Number Slevin was too clever, swapping what could have been a very coherent story of revenge with visual flash and quick cuts, but its still an enjoyable film.

The big cast includes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and Josh Hartnett, with Lucy Liu being the sole female lead in the film. We open a range of ways in this film, with various characters being thrown at us from the beginning, and dialogue perhaps too elegant to fit the plot, but certainly something thought-provoking.

We eventually run into Slevin (Hartnett) who is occupying his friends apartment, but is then accused of being said friend, who owes a lot of money to The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), two rival gangsters, who live literally across the road from each other in two identical towers, but a past altercation leaves them almost fearful of the other.

Smith (Willis) is a master assassin who seems to be whispering in the ear of both gangsters, with the overall goal of keeping the right people quiet. Lucy Liu plays Nick's neighbour Lindsey, who grows increasingly unsure of Slevins role in everything. A big cast like this does indeed lead to some underlying problems. perhaps the pacing of the story.

The plot moves at a very erratic and sometimes confusing motion. Certain cuts and extras seem unnecessary and I was baffled as to why they were in fact there. At times it is very easy to question the relevance of the whole thing, simply because at times the backdrop is used for a comic effect rather than focusing on what could have been a straightforward and engaging story had it been done a different way. The realisation of Slevin was a nice twist, but only eventually, as director Peter McGuigan took too long to follow up his major twist with the ultimate one.

Lucky Number Slevin is still an enjoyable piece, the acting is excellent from the heavy-hitting cast, all delivering memorable performances and engaging characters, and the story itself, stripping away the visuals and deliberate confusion, is in fact quite good as the climax creeps up.

The idea of creating visual standouts just seemed unnecessary, but the acting and decent plot of the film did save it from going too far down.