Lucky Number Slevin (2006) Review

It may have been directed by a Brit and filmed in Canada, but this serpentine thriller deftly pulls the rug out from under that Hollywood staple known as the hard-boiled, B-movie crime drama.

All dressed down and plenty of places to go © MGM

San Francisco native Josh Hartnett has some noticeable Hollywood fat on his acting resume - Pearl Harbor, Towne and Country, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Hollywood Homicide. So perhaps it's not surprising that it took a guy from Glasgow, Scotland, to finally figure out what makes Josh Hartnett, movie star, tick.

The Scottish fellow in question is Paul McGuigan, director of Hartnett's 2004 thriller Wicker Park and, before that, Gangster Number One. It was that crime flick, which commingled Malcolm McDowell, Paul Bettany and an unconventional approach to language similar to that found in Slevin, that sealed the deal for McGuigan to once again direct Hartnett in Montreal, Canada in the winter of 2005, where both collaborations with the actor have unspooled.

Hartnett positively sparkles in his latest film, much of which he spends with only a towel draped around his waist. His cheeky, nimble turn makes you realize what all the magazine cover fuss was about, and suggests that with The Black Dahlia and the Chet Baker biopic The Prince of Cool around the corner, this could be the beginning of a trifecta that helps vault the chiseled 27-year-old past fellow thespians such as the 28-year-old Ashton Kutcher.

Lindsey (Lucy Liu) © MGM

To McGuigan and screenwriter Jason Smilovic's credit, the role of Slevin was extensively rewritten once Hartnett came on board. Instead of an unlikable smart ass, the character became goofier and more endearing (ditto for the part played in the film by Lucy Liu, who helped imbue Lindsey with way more pep after she was cast). Faced with life-threatening dilemmas and 24-like, clock-ticking ultimatums, Slevin is never too far from another sly wink or raised eyebrow. And let's face it; in real life, that towel would drop about a half dozen times as he waltzes around a major metropolis. The fact that it doesn't is the first clue that we are being treated to some blatant, playful artifice.

The less you know about the plot particulars of Lucky Number Slevin, the better off you will be. It's got the look of The Lady from Shanghai, the feel of The Usual Suspects and echoes of many more past movie moments. But in taking the somewhat familiar elements of the crime drama, the gangster drama and the innocent man drama and weaving them together in a stylish new way, McGuigan and Smilovic set the stage for a rip roaring ride down the equivalent of whacked out memory lane. Slevin may feel like a B movie, but its plot twists eventually turn it into an A plus roller coaster ride.

The Rabbi (Sir Ben Kingsley) © MGM

While the roles of Slevin and Lindsey were reshaped for Hartnett and Liu, the part of mob boss The Rabbi was from the beginning fashioned by Smilovic with Sir Ben Kingsley in mind (the creator of the TV series Karen Cisco and this fall's Kidnapped first began working on this script idea back in 1997). As usual, the Oscar winner shines, edging out the sonorously cadenced performance of his counterpart, The Boss, played by fellow Oscar winner Morgan Freeman. Again, neither one of these kingpins belong in anything resembling the 21st century modern world; they are more like literary ciphers, with each actor biting into the eccentricity of it all with relish.

At one point, Freeman's character tells this fantastical riddle-like tale about a mythical creature, leaving it up to viewers to figure out what it all might mean to the plot. Tyler Mitchell, one of the producers of Slevin, has described the film's storyline as that of a charismatic, easy-going guy who falls down a rabbit hole into a gangster wonderland. And that really is, ultimately, the most telling analogy of all. Like Lewis Carroll's fabled labyrinth, Smilovic's word is laden with mathematically precise clues and ultimately, a well-trodden path that is not quite what it seems.

Also gliding through the narrative is Bruce Willis, resurgent with 16 Blocks and this Shyamalan-worthy turn. Indeed, if M. Night were to trade in the supernatural for the criminal, this is very much the kind of film he would probably end up with. As Goodkat, Willis is once again entirely convincing as a ruthless wielder of a high caliber weapon. With Alpha Dog around the corner next month, the actor should be celebrated for a late-stages trifecta of his own.

Goodkat (Bruce Willis) © MGM

All of McGuigan's films have been shot by the same cinematographer - Peter Sova. One of the things Sova is known for is that he, as they say, lights 360 degrees of a scene before filming, so that McGuigan can take it anywhere he wants to. Persnickety viewers might seize upon the obvious fact that a Canadian city is standing in here for Manhattan. But that lower-budgeted MGM / Weinstein Co. feel just helps enhance in a way the tangential Spanish Prisoner and House of Games feel of it all.

Smilovic has a long way to go still before he can officially be placed on the same word play mantel as David Mamet. But if you go into Lucky Number Slevin with a willingness to let the film wash over you rather than a desire to figure it all out as it's happening, you'll surely believe that this young phenom has a real shot at reaching that rarified realm.