A
cleverly twisty plot about a regular guy (Josh Hartnett) mixed up with rival
crime lords can’t completely overcome an air of contrivance.
Slevin, played by Josh
Hartnett, is a regular guy who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong
time, mistaken for someone else by not one but two rival crime lords. One,
called the Boss, is played by Morgan Freeman. The other, called the Rabbi, is
played by Ben Kingsley. Why is he called the Rabbi? “Because he’s a rabbi.”
That’s the sort of movie this is. You can almost hear first-time screenwriter
Jason Smilovic saying, wouldn’t it be interesting to make one of the kingpins a
rabbi? The dialogue is like that too, so a lot of what you think about this
movie will depend on what you think about lines like “Nick set me up like a
bowling pin.” Kind of clever, kind of contrived. It sounds sort of like
a film noir, but, with bright lighting and direct camera angles, doesn’t look
like one. Rather than a femme fatale,
it has likable Lucy Liu as a perky, fast-talking coroner who pops in on Slevin
like the kind of next-door-neighbor usually seen on TV. She’s a counterpoint to
the dispassionate Slevin (or is that the passionless Hartnett?). Bruce Willis
plays a killer whose relation to the other characters is a mystery. Lucky
Number Slevin will appeal to people who like their thrillers with muted
violence but lots of twists and turns, though it relies too much on having the
characters explain the convoluted plot. You can almost hear them saying,
“Please allow me to explain to you and the people in the theater why I’m
killing you.” So, I can almost recommend this.
posted 9/3/13
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