I went in with low expectations. This isn’t my usual fare of movies that I look forward to. I love Bruce Willis (my guiltiest of cinematic pleasures is Hudson Hawk) but I’ve rarely seen a Josh Hartnett movie I liked, though I hear Wicker Park is great and I will rent it soon. So I was divided. But then we throw Lucy Liu in the balance; she puts the woof in woof-woof. And also we get the voice and presence of Morgan Freeman. So I had to see this despite my low expectations. Hollywood Homicide kept bouncing around my skull. That’s how low my expectations were. But from such low expectations, things can only get better.
And they do. As soon as the credits open we are greeted with fantastic cinematography and the names start popping up, Bruce, Josh, Lucy, Morgan, Danny Aiello (Ooh Yeah! But no Sinatra duet with Willis), Sir Ben freakin’ Kingsley (I couldn’t help but let out a “Yeah!” in the theatre) and a barely recognizable Stanley Tucci. I was now prepared, prepared to be disappointed.
Here’s a quick run down of the story. Slevin is mistaken for another man, just by being in his apartment. The Boss, brilliantly executed by Morgan Freeman, tells him that to pay his debt he must kill his rival’s son. The rival is The Rabbi, played in absolute perfection by Ben Kingsley. The Rabbi also mistakes the poor Slevin for the other guy and tells him to pay his debt to him also. But he’s being pegged by world class assassin Mr. Goodcat, played by Bruce Willis. And Slevin meets with the quirky girl next door, played ingeniously by Lucy Liu. And that’s all I’ll say. To say more would ruin the movie since it’s a thriller and the entire story is revealed in the end and that’s the fun of such movies.
Alfred Hitchcock would rub his big belly in Hitchcockian glee if he could see this movie. They even mention my favorite Hitchcock movie North by Northwest from which many ideas were lifted to make this movie — but the homage is so brilliant, it cannot be called a rip-off.
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Article comments
1 - -E
Congrats! This has been selected as one of this week's Editor Picks.
2 - Raconteur
TWIMC,
I too enjoyed Lucky Number Slevin. In fact, some repartee is so rapid and deep that the film bears reseeings.
The rapid flashback sequence while Slevin is retelling his real story was a good choice. An interesting plot twist was the revelation about the dirty cop.
However, I have criticisms/remarks about the story, cinematography, and some scene choices.
1. The director seemed fascinated with the firearms, which is a usual problem for those inexperienced with them.
2. Successful assassins are far more careful about not leaving evidence. And about planting misleading items. Surgical gloves are always worn while handling and using weapons and ammunition, and particularly so with poisons.
3. Flashback scenes should have been shot more from the perspectives of the protagonists who were remembering/relating a flashback.
4. The 'porno scene', where Slevin relates the 'perfidious girlfriend story' was shot just right; it has a 'set-up' where the camera follows his progress down the hall, shows him in the doorway, and then switches to his perspective of the two on the bed. That's how more of the other flashback scenes should have been shot, and perhaps that is how these can show up on the DVD.
5. The blonde should have had a 'fluffer' to ensure that her nipples were erect before each shot.
6. All normal males want to see much more of Lucy Liu in flagranti delicto totalis. Perhaps before her body succumbs to gravity and age, she might make a full-length graphic sex movie with someone she likes. Soft core or...
A quibble is the shooting of the Lucy character, because the assassin had -in any prior scene- never settled for a single pistol shot.
All in all, however, LNS was a well-executed film that, judging by the audience numbers, will regretably soon be going to DVD.
I also enjoyed The Seige, which had Bruce Willis in a poorly-written supporting part. Generals are military politicions, so they rarely get their own hands 'dirty', nor do they make rank by leaving any sort of questionable trail...
If a director or writer is fascinated with firearms, there's a clever device called a Calico 9mm, which comes in both semi-auto and auto versions. It used to be made in California. It mounts either a 25- or 50-round helical-coil magazine, and a bag that traps spent rounds may be attached to the exit port underneath. Silencers and flash-suppressors may be added to the barrel.
Raconteur