Review of Lucky Number Slevin (2006) by Spangle — 07 Apr 2016

Lucky Number Slevin is a clever little crime thriller that really does a good job hooking you in and keeping you guessing. It ties everything together quite nicely and is a really, really tight film. The acting from Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu, and Stanley Tucci, are all solid.

Additionally, the writing is quite good for the most part. The characters and their place in this neo-noir type film are all quite clear and compelling. However, the undoing of Lucky Number Slevin is two-fold: one, exposition.

Nobody needs this much exposition. Christopher Nolan would leave this film thinking, "Wow that was a lot of exposition". That is how much of this stuff there is. While needed, obviously, it is not needed to the level found here.

Additionally, the film literally walks you through the plot at the end. Any audience is not that stupid. Here, it has to be explained to you because the film did not think you could handle it without having it spoon fed to you.

Thus, this is the first time you are seeing most of it. Even worse though, this piece of the film practically undoes the characterizations of the prior 3/4ths of the film. The audience is smarter than this film wants to admit.

Though I said it is two-fold, I am reminded of a few more problems that are inherent here, namely how homophobic it is. Holy cow I have not seen a film this homophobic in a while. That said, it is quite entertaining and is a well made crime thriller, both of which help elevate it (slightly) above its faults.