Review of Lucky Number Slevin (2006) by Lane Z — 09 Apr 2017

As I continue my reviews with 501, I figured the best way to move forward was by taking a small step back to 2006 with Lucky Number Slevin. Nearly 11 years ago, Slevin was overshadowed by a plethora of other major milestones in the movie industry like Casino Royale, The Departed and Children of Men just to name a few. While none of it was difficult to predict and because it tried too hard to model itself off other movies of the same genre, Slevin takes a back seat to the aforementioned movies because of it's lack of desire to truly stand on its own.

Josh Hartnett has always been somewhat of an enigma to me. He's attractive enough to get the rom-com roles we've seen him in before, but not attractive enough to really make a dent in that genre. He's a bit baby faced for roles involving gangster or tough-guy issues, but he pulls off the desired cockiness with ease. So where Slevin succeeds is when they let his attitude run wild. They compliment that with an assuredly goofy performance from Lucy Liu and an almost comic-book-like appearance from Bruce Willis.

The plot is jumbled, and while we get some good background info on the proceedings to start the film, most of the "war" between Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley's dueling gangster bosses is left to the imagination. Instead of developing these two crime bosses, we get caricatures. Stanley Tucci's police detective really comes out of left field with his revelation in an unsatisfying way because of his lack of involvement with the rest of the characters outside of standard police work.

Lucky Number Slevin won't wow you with its plot or capture you with its imagery. The dialogue and interaction is just campy enough to put on a good show.