Lucky Number Slevin near-perfect 90s style flashback

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2006)

You ever had a really bad day? You know, the kind of day where nothing seems to be going right and just about anything that could go wrong does? No matter how bad your day may have been, I'm going to assume that the crap Slevin has to go through in this movie can top that. Even if it is about someone having a really bad day, Lucky Number Slevin is one hell of a good movie.
Slevin (Hartnett), as stated above, is having on hell of a day. It starts out with him getting fired from his job. He goes home to find out he is being evicted. Without a home, he plans on staying with his girlfriend for a while, only to wind up walking in on her with a strange man. He instead calls his old friend Nick and goes to New York to stay with him. En route to the apartment, he is mugged. When he gets to the apartment, Nick is nowhere to be found. And, to top it all off, two gangsters show up at his front door to collect on a $96,000 debt that Nick owes The Boss (Freeman).
Instead of demanding the money, The Boss offers Slevin (whom he assumes is Nick) a second option, which is absolve all debts by killing the gay son of rival gangster The Rabbi (Kingsley), who recently murdered The Boss's son. At the same time, The Rabbi picks up Nick/Slevin because Nick owes him around $30,000. Also, nosy detective Brikowski (Tucci) is investigating Slevin's appearances with both bosses. To top it all off, a mysterious assassin named Goodkat (Willis) shows up, apparently playing both sides of the fence. Slevin, with the help of curious neighbour Lindsey (Liu) is now caught in the middle.
Right from the beginning, where Goodkat tells a story about a mob killing to a man in an airport, the movie tells you it is a con with a reference to a 'Kansas City Shuffle', where everyone looks to left and you go to the right. If you are good at solving this kind of movie, odds are you'll get the main twist sure enough. It's the little twists that are almost completely unpredictable, and they make the ending one of the best in recent years. The first two-thirds are a total setup to the incredible final act.
The movie's style seems to be a mix of Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and Get Shorty, which is a very good thing. It has a comedic flow with a great edge to it. In fact, there is almost nothing in the movie to suggest that it wasn't Tarantino directing another Elmore Leonard adaptation. Yes, that is right, I just compared this to Tarantino, and it deserves the comparison.
The problem with the style is that the movie is often self-contradictory, or throws some very confusing scenes at us early on, which I will now dub WTF moments, due to the fact that they made me wonder exactly what the hell was going on. Some, such as myself, love this type of movie, but others may not like being stringed along as they will be constantly in this movie. Throw in some time-jumps, and this movie adheres to basically every Tarantino rule, which not everyone will like.
One aspect I really liked was the paranoia from The Boss and The Rabbi, both of whom live in buildings facing each other, too afraid to leave their bulletproof glass shield for fear of high-powered rifles. The minor thugs they have all seem to fit into some kind of caricature, which helps keep the movie's style flowing in a Leonard-like fashion. Sure, stereotypes they may be, but they work well for the movie.
One part I was worried about was the star, Josh Hartnett, who seemed quite out of place when compared to the rest of the cast when looking at the roster. Surprisingly, he steals the show with a character seemingly written just for him. Slevin is a smart-ass, sly and semi-pathetic character, and Hartnett completely convinced me, easily proving to be the best role I have seen him in to date. Not saying that this is some performance that will seriously garner any awards attention, but he stands tall, perhaps even rising above, the rest of the cast.
The rest of the cast is comprised of some true greats from Hollywood, including two Oscar winners and Bruce freakin' Willis. Morgan Freeman definitely fits in with the Leonard style, with an edge much akin to Delroy Lindo in Get Shorty. Ben Kingsley creates a quite interesting character out of The Rabbi, which contrasts well to Freeman's cool, yet one-dimensional, Boss. Stanley Tucci seems largely ignored, but does exactly what anyone could have hoped for in his screen time. Lucy Liu did exactly what was needed for a female lead, which was to look attractive and bounce off Hartnett well. The two of them have definite chemistry, which is a major plus. Finally, Bruce Willis does what he does best as the mysterious assassin Goodkat. Even if the man says nothing, he still emanates kickass, and just by being in this movie the movie automatically rocks (well, not really, but you get the point).
For anyone who loved the 90s, this movie is for you. It has all the style of the greats from that era, as well as a twisty, somewhat convoluted plot line that any fan of the genre will love. With a solid plot, excellent cast and plenty of style, Lucky Number Slevin is exactly the type of movie that we almost don't see enough of anymore. So, bring on more of the same, because even a copycat of this would be worthwhile.
Overall Rating  94%