kind of like eating leftovers

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2006)

Director Paul McGuigan, who previously set the plague upon the world that was the Josh Harnett vehicle "Wicker Park", returns with an entirely new bag of tricks with "Lucky Number Slevin". The oddly named film fulfills the basic requirements of a crime thriller, providing equal amounts twists as turns, and leaves the audience grappling at straws up until the very end. On the surface this is all very familiar territory, which has been going especially strong since Quentin Tarantino burst on the scene in the early '90s, reviving the genre.
Most of what came after Tarantino's arrival (specifically "Pulp Fiction") was below par, hackneyed, and at times little more than hero worship pointed at that director himself. McGuigan takes "Lucky Number Slevin" in more of a "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" direction, as it allows intrigue and crime to occur in a world familiar with the same film catalog as those staring at the screen. It's this sort of self-conscious film-making that makes this one really work, even if the whole mess comes off as a filmic casserole.
It tells the continually unraveling story of Slevin, a man who finds himself caught in an extreme case of mistaken identity that leads him deep into the crime world of New York City which is headed by two warring isolationistic crime bosses. There's a lot of strong acting talent involved here, including a surprisingly effective performance by Lucy Liu, who tends to be an awkward fit in many of her roles.
The story is predictably complex, and at times indiscernible, as it continues to unravel in interesting, entertaining, and surprisingly tidy ways. There's a palpable energy to the whole thing that makes it an exciting, if quickly forgotten experience.