Lots of good fun that won't win any awards

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2006)

Lucky Number Slevin can leave you guessing until almost the end. I'd say that depends on just how enveloped you let yourself become while watching the movie.
Some of the good stuff: This movie doesn't mess around with getting the ball rolling. People die violently in the first few minutes. Things then settle down into story building, but I do find one hole in Josh Hartnett's character which, in the spirit of the movie, is easily dismissed. And fortunately there is no mysterious reason why the guys doing bad things are afraid to use the most effective tools. You don't have some guy wielding knives at a gunfight, in other words.
Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu and Morgan Freeman all fit their characters quite well. Ben Kingsly does too, of course, but I couldn't help but feel that the role of the Rabbi did not NEED Kingsley. It almost seemed a waste of his talent.
For American muscle car fans, pay particular attention to the couple of scenes that take place in the parking lot of the horse track. I know there aren't a lot of cars for that period around anymore, but it looks like these guys raided a museum. Real eye candy for a motor head.
The end is, well...a bit drawn out, IMHO. You find out who is who and why everyone who is a target IS a target, and the story line is benefited by not having shown their faces when the story got told early on. In other words you know the history, just not the players.
The movie does a good job of keeping you on your toes, guessing as to what 'really' happened in a couple of places. It's fun, definitely worth a look.