Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Directed by Paul McGuigan
Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.
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What critics say influenced Lucky Number Slevin
The Cary Grant North by Northwest reference is part and parcel of the script’s glib post-modern approach where everyone is sufficiently pop-culture savvy to relate the events of the film to other films.
Like Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” (which is directly referenced by one character), Josh Hartnett is a man who is repeatedly mistaken for somebody else.
(In fact, North by Northwest is explicitly referenced.)
It aspires to be in the same company as Hitchcock's classic "North By Northwest," but that's only a pipe dream.
The script brings up references to Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and James Bond films, and even the casting of Willis and Liu, who have been strongly associated with previous Tarantino films, contributes to this film’s active overstatement of the company it wishes to keep.
It's a twisty-turny tale, ever so slightly reminiscent of "North by Northwest" (a connection that this film is quick to point out) about a seemingly regular guy (Josh Hartnett) who appears to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Taking a cue from The Usual Suspects, the film anchors its abundant ingenuity in crisp, somewhat abstracted relationships, that is to say, impressive performances by respected actors (one payoff involves Schlomo and the Boss in the same room, at long last, such that Gandhi and Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris might throw down verbally).
The reasons for his "What, me worry?" quips and sheepish grins become apparent as the film shifts from glib-noir black comedy to Shakespearean vengeance in the key of "The Usual Suspects."
I had problems with " The Usual Suspects ," but at least I didn't see the last scene coming.
It's not quite "The Usual Suspects" or "House of Games," but then what is?
Hartnett, whose charisma is firmly established with this film, plays Slevin Kelevra, one of those names that will stay with you the way The Usual Suspects' Keyser Soze did a decade ago.
Lucky Number Slevin tries to be more than it is, something between The Usual Suspects and Pulp Fiction.
More significantly, while most movies in this genre play as tragedythink of Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects and other films in which the protagonist who tries to accomplish something good is undone by some sort of personal flawthis one plays, for the most part, as comedy, and not just because it has funny dialogue and amusing images.
It's not quite "The Usual Suspects" or "House of Games," but then what is?
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It takes its editing rhythms from the clever Guy Ritchie of "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" fame (and not "Swept Away," with wifey Madonna, infamy).
He's part of the gang of new British cutthroats that includes Guy Ritchie (''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels") and Matthew Vaughn (''Layer Cake"), filmmakers who deliver the old ultra-violence with Cool Britannia flair.
This is as good an action/crime film as the recent import Layer Cake which went virtually undetected by U.S. audiences.
At first, the movie seems to be some sort of distant relation to "Pulp Fiction" or possibly "Sin City" -- the presence of Bruce Willis as one of the key players in "Slevin" underscores the connection -- but eventually Smilovic's real source of inspiration emerges.
From a directorial standpoint, Paul McGuigan was evidently inspired by Tarantino, and some of the Pulp Fiction filmmaker's favorite actors - Bruce Willis, Robert Foerster, Lucy Liu - make appearances.
The movie borrows from that 1995 film, as well as from 1994's Pulp Fiction.
The dialogue, which already sticks like peanut butter to the cast's maws, is peppered with slurs, "fairy" this and "darkies" that -- more lost-in-translation QT. "You're a conundrum, you," Freeman says to Harnett, but Lucky Number Slevin should be easy to decipher for audiences alert enough to notice that the hideous wallpaper designs in the characters' rooms haven't changed much since the 1979 prologue, just as hideous Pulp Fiction clones haven't changed much since 1994.
Now he's the lead in Lucky Number Slevin, evidence that Weinstein Co. honchos Bob and Harvey are chasing some of the old Pulp Fiction magic—and failing not only miserably, but kind of disgustingly.
What was novel and clever in that film and in “Pulp Fiction” is tedious and exhausting in the hands of most people, including first-time screenwriter Jason Smilovic.
An elaborate piece of narrative hocus-pocus, this mystery thriller benefits from a strong cast (Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci) and some of the best 70s-kitsch set decoration since Boogie Nights.
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Paul McGuigan ( Gangster No. 1 , The Reckoning ) directs this slick con game, which works for large portions, not because of brains, but thanks to its color and style.
If the script's flaws are distracting, however, its assets are still considerable, and McGuigan develops them with the same expert visual gymnastics that made his Gangster No. 1 so compelling.
Paul McGuigan ( Gangster No. 1 , The Reckoning ) directs this slick con game, which works for large portions, not because of brains, but thanks to its color and style.
McGuigan worked wonders with the gritty British gangland movie "Gangster Number 1" (2000) but seemed to lose his way on his next two genre disasters "The Reckoning" and "Wicker Park."