Slick but Superficial

Rating: Null/10 (2 March 2006)

Scot Paul McGuigan's 'Lucky Number Slevin' is a sharp, funny, quick witted little movie populated by character actors who are fully engaged in their script and characterisation. It's by no means perfect  certain plot points are glaringly obvious, as indeed are continuity errors  but it is a film which requires audiences to pay attention as double-crosses pile on top of one another.
Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley (sorry, Sir Ben Kingsley, he seems to have grown a little pompous in his old age to insist on such on-screen honorifics) are amiably malevolent as the warring gangsters at the heart of the story, and Lucy Lui and Josh Hartnett make an engaging couple. The script is, however, the film's strongest point, the dialogue is snappy, though at times it verges into near parody of Ellroy Leonard.
The designer, however, needs to be shot. Every set is cursed with either '70s wallpaper or decorative tiling inspired to foster migraine.
Hartnett's best film so far, and huge improvement on Paul McGuigan's previous directorial efforts.