Awful marketing aside, it's the uneven tone that does a real disservice

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2017)

I remember the trailer for "Lucky Number Slevin", some sort of hit-man movie with some "Ocean's Eleven" style and humor thrown in. The real shocker is that it's absolutely nothing like that. There are hit men involved as well as some humor sprinkled here and there (primarily in the beginning) but it's much more of a gangster/crime movie. The kind of story that keeps you guessing (although, for anyone paying attention, the twist is pretty evident early on).
What's disappointing is how seriously it plays the subject matter. For all of the eccentric characters introduced, and the humorous dialog in the first act, it really needed that levity maintained throughout. Once that comic tone disappears, it's a lot less interesting.
To its credit, the late-hour twists don't feel cheap like I was expecting them to. But I feel like I've seen this story before. And a great deal of it is oddly lifeless.
5/10