Review of Sexy Beast (2001) by Beau J — 28 Mar 2010

Sexy Beast is a great riff on the "one last job" story for a retired gangster. The film takes all those qualities and twists them in such a way it is masterful. From the moment the boulder nearly kills Ray Winstone and lands in his love heart tiled pool, the motif the film relies on springs to life.

All this is helped by great performances across the board. Ray Winstone is a likable rogue. Ben Kingsley is terrifying as a gangster of middle management sensibilities and Ian McShane is truly frightening as the ice cold boss.

The rule of Character Economy also rears its head, when the boy who seems irrelevant to the central plot, rears his head during a key moment. I am glad the film did not devolve into a film obssessed with the logistics of the score in the third act. Instead it keeps with the relationships that the characters have with each other. I also particularity liked the surrealist elements and the way the devilish bunny linked into the hunting trip the protagonist enjoyed earlier in the film.

My 5.1 system also went spastic during this presentation. The director certainly spent a lot of effort is shooting the film well.