Marred revenge flick

Rating: 6/10 (24 December 2006)

It took me two screenings of this film to discover the major flaw. I was OK with most of the "mistakes" other nay-sayers mentioned: plot, acting, dialogue, Lucy Liu, and the violence. I don't think revenge solves anything (see the Middle East) but strangely, I like movies about revenge when the wronged party is the one seeking it, e.g., Denzel Washington in Man on Fire. But sometimes the avenger kills innocent people, e.g., Gregory Peck in The Bravados. And this is not good. It creates fertile ground for another revenge movie (innocent bystander's kid hunts down and kills his Dad's killer).
In Lucky Number Slevin, the innocent guy is Nick Fisher. Nick is killed simply because Sleven (Hartnet) needs his apartment and ID. So Slevin becomes pretty much the same kind of person he's attempting to wipe out.
Therefore his happy ending with Lucy Lui isn't all that happy in my book. And what about those bookies who had to die? They had no part in the killing of Slevin's Mom and Dad. They died for their books that helped Slevin target poor Nick Fisher. See? I have the story down after two viewings.