Excellent and what's more, intelligent suspense movie.

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2006)

Lucky Number Slevin  A case of mistaken identity lands Slevin (Josh Hartnett) into the middle of a war being plotted by two of the city's most rival crime bosses: The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) and The Boss (Morgan Freeman). Slevin is under constant surveillance by relentless Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) as well as the infamous assassin Goodkat (Bruce Willis) and finds himself having to hatch his own ingenious plot to get them before they get him.
Wow! This is quite the clever movie. One of the things that attracted me was the dialogue. It is quirky, brainy and quick-witted. Josh Hartnett, who I enjoyed in the widely ignored Hollywood Homicide, delightfully displays this verbal black belt in karate that sadly does not extend to his physical fighting skills. He gets the crap beaten out of him quite frequently. He keeps the movie going with charm and our sympathy for his being in such a crappy situation. Anymore about him would be spoilers, but suffice to say it's very entertaining. Lucy Liu plays his love interest. Her scenes with him are about 10 times as entertaining as the entirety of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Though that doesn't say much at all, I grew to care about their relationship.
Another thing I was quite grateful for was the presence of Morgan Freeman. His sultry voice is, for once, not acting as narrator or warm support to the lead. He plays one of the villains, and does so with silky menace. I was also glad to see Ben Kingsley in something of quality for a change. After Thunderbirds, Species and (ugh) BloodRayne, I thought he'd finally given up on doing anything worthy of his skills. He didn't have anything too too challenging to do, but I enjoyed his little monologue near the end. Bruce Willis is. Bruce Willis. If you like the persona he brings in his films (I enjoyed his young cop a little more than his old cop) this is it with a heavy mystique added. To be fair, he was a wild card and was completely unpredictable.
Of course, completely unpredictable could be the name of this movie. Without revealing anything I can tell you that almost everything said and done comes out of left field. The story is so good and the exposition is skillfully prepared, (by director Paul McGuigan) so the lags are minimal and any confusion felt is momentary. If you like your suspense..suspenseful, than this is for you. My only real critique is that I can't imagine anyone would want to see the movie more than once. Also, if you're looking for any depth or greater meaning, aside form its layers, there is none. But it's an entertaining and what's more, intelligent movie. And that deserves notice.
Lucky Number Slevin gets an B+