Review of Sexy Beast (2001) by Graham P — 28 May 2010

In which Ben Kingsley surprised and shocked in equal manner with his potty mouth and psychotic attitude in his portraying of one of the most unpleasant movie gangsters in recent years; Don Logan. The plot concerns Don's trip to sunny Spain to recruit Gary - a portly and past his prime retired safe cracker (Ray Winstone) - for one last big bank heist, at the request of gang boss Teddy Bass (Ian McShane).

Sexy Beast is a powerful and well realised dialogue driven movie with some great performances from it's talented cast. Kingsley steals the show in the first half; his Logan is a truly menacing figure of venom and malevolence- a coiled spring of barely repressed violence and pent up aggression who spits out lines of such contemptuous and expletive-ridden vitriol that the other characters seem to shrivel in his presence, verbally beaten down and physically repressed. Indeed, Winston portrays his characters fear in the face of this nutcase's tirades very convincingly, and one can imagine this wasn't hard to achieve as Kingsley is extremely intimidating (a far cry as one can get from his performance as Gandhi) and more than makes up for his lack of physical presence (he's about half the size of Winston) with attitude alone.

Eminently quotable (if one isn't upset by the word cunt being thrown about a lot) and owning every scene he is in, it would be easy to imagine that this film is all about Kingsley. This might have been the case if not for Ian McShane's smaller, but no less memorable turn as Teddy Bass. Unlike Logan, Bass doesn't have to shout, swear and stamp about to scare people: he is a cold and calculating criminal, just as capable of acts of lethal violence despite a calmer demeanor. McShane would portray a character with a similarly dark and complex personality in the excellent HBO series Deadwood.

My verdict on Sexy Beast is that it's a smart and highly watchable crime drama that avoids clichés and focusses on interaction between memorable characters. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the genré and who isn't easily offended by rude words.