Some of us just have all the luck. Again, I managed to see a movie with a very bloody and dramatic opening with no reason given upfront for the violence. I found Lucky Number Slevin, however, much easier to stomach than Running Scared probably because the violence is well-balanced with clever dialogue and fascinating plot twists.
A man named Nick Fisher owes two very powerful men a lot of money but when they go looking for him, he goes missing. At the same time, his friend Slevin (Josh Hartnett) shows up at Nick's apartment after he's lost his job, girlfriend, apartment and gotten mugged. When The Boss (Morgan Freeman) sends two henchmen for Nick and they find Slevin, they assume he is Nick. Without time to even dress (Slevin spends the first meeting with The Boss donning only a bath towel), Slevin finds himself in the middle of a complicated battle between The Boss and his nemesis, The Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley). He is hired to kill The Rabbi's son and also owes him money.
At this point, it's safe to say that Slevin is anything but fortunate. Don't count Slevin out though -- he's got 48 hours to hatch up a plan to get himself out of this mess.
Usually I'm not a big fan of Josh Hartnett but Lucky Number Slevin might make me keep an eye on him in the future. Slevin instantly wins audience sympathy as he bumbles around and gets roughed up by the bad guys in the first half of the movie. His ability to shift from comedic to somber to tough shows that Hartnett has grown in his acting versatility. He clearly shows that he's earned the right to a leading role in Slevin.
Lucy Liu impressed me as much, if not more than Hartnett, as Slevin's romantic interest and Nick's apartment neighbor, Lindsey. For once, Liu gets to play a character that seems more human than fem-bot as the extremely chatty and easily excitable coroner who quickly befriends Slevin.
Not only does Liu's character help Slevin do some sleuthing, but she also adds a hint of romantic comedy to the suspense thriller. Lindsey acts as a guide to pickup lines in an intense film.
In an effort to ask Slevin out on a dinner date, she delivers a comical yet appropriate line -- "I was just thinking if maybe you were still alive ... we could have dinner or something?" Later, she tells Slevin, "You remind me of James Bond" after he manages to get the hang of inconspicuously spying on other people. With the help of solid acting by Liu and Hartnett, an endearing love story emerges in the midst of concern about death and debts.
Speaking of death, Bruce Willis, as assassin Goodkat, delivers the most chilling performance I have seen him give in a film. His stoic personality and the way that he manages to pop out of thin air in the most unlikely places kept me on edge the whole movie. Goodkat is a walking death machine, leaving bodies in his wake wherever he goes. Still, you can't help but think the guy is cool and clever if not one bad cat.
Goodkat, however, is a great example of the people and events in Slevin on the whole -- things aren't exactly what they seem.
Though The Rabbi really is a rabbi, the more the story line progresses, the more you get an unsettling feeling that something very fishy is going on. Everything becomes clear in one "Oh man, I didn't see that one coming" moment that you will either love or hate.
I loved the absurdity that The Boss and The Rabbi lived right across the street from each other, eyeballing each other from the windows with neither leaving "his tower of isolation for fear of what the other will do to him." I loved the constant cat-and-mouse chases. I even loved Goodkat's incessant references to the "Kansas City Shuffle," which by the way, is more than just a song and dance.
All and all, I think Lucky Number Slevin was blessed with a star cast that worked. The successful blend of dialogue, plot twists, acting and cinematography helped Slevin come out on top and might just help usher in a revival of great films this year.
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