Hartnett Hammers a Big One

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2010)

Lucky Number Slevin was one of the only movies I've ever pressed stop when the movie's end-credits rolled and started over from the beginning and watched the entire feature in its entirety all over again. I was that impressed when I first watched it.
Fast-forward four years andwell, not so much. Yeah, I still liked it (hence the 8/10 stars; I think my original opinion was 5/5.) It was still clever, had good acting, but it didn't have that sting that caused my original double-watching. I don't know what did it for me this timemaybe it was trying too hard to be smarter than it was, or that Ben Kingsley has lost a lot of respect from me over the years – A Sound of Thunder, anyone? And even though I hadn't seen Thunderbirds – I really can't bring myself to do so.
Sure, Benny, sorry, SIR Benny, has been in a handful of excellent to good movies – Schindler's List, Shutter Island, to name a pair – but here, he just plain sucked. Lucy Lui – I always like her ("Hubba, Hubba, Hubba" – Payback) but here, she seemed to just play the part. Willis and Tucci – ditto.
The only duo that stood out was Freeman and (oddly) Hartnett. I say oddly, because, after his premier in the way above average Halloween: H20, he's been as reliable as Keanu Reeves in film; you always know he is going to be terrible.
The real winner here was the script. It's witty, fast paced, fun, original and a lot of the times, you will, in fact, do what I did: rewind and play again to see what you might have missed. I didn't see this in theatres, but I did for Fight Club, and I might have done just that for that movie.
Aside from the movie's intro that jumps all over the place – though it's a great scene with Mr. Goodkat (Willis) in a wheelchair – we begin with Slevin (Hartnett, and incidentally I LOVE that name: Slevin) who's sporting a broken nose, a missing friend who he was supposed to stay with while visiting in NYC and a nosey neighbor, Lindsey (Liu) who does see more than he wanted her too.
Not too long after Slevin's arrival, he's kidnapped via being mistaken for the friend he was supposed to meet. In nothing but a towel, he's taken downtown to meet a crime-lord, "The Boss" (Freeman,) who explains he owes him money, but a hit on his nemesis, "The Rabbi"'s (Kingsley) son will do just fine.
No matter how much Slevin tries to talk his way out, truthfully explaining he is not his friend – mistaken identity, etc – he gets further thrust into the battle between the two mobsters and the police all the while judging Lindsey and her "investigation" of trying to help this complete stranger to her.
It's a very well made movie with great dialogue, twists/turns and successfully takes itself from the realm of dark-comedy and quick wits to a more serious movie of revenge and retaliation. Despite my opening remarks, I highly recommend this little seen movie – especially if you like superhuman characters (Slevin) as much as I do. In fact, I think his only Kryptonite, though it was integral to the story, was the wildcard Lindsey. SEE IT!