Great Movie (SPOILERS IF YOU Haven't SEEN IT!!!)

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2007)

Yes, this is definitely one of Woody's best films in a while. Yes, its about luck, but its as if he took Raskolnikov from Crime And Punishment and worked him backwards: the events of the movie, his justification for murdering lead UP to the murder, not the murder first. So in essence, he works up to justifying killing Nola and the old lady, and quickly resolving that personal crisis. Thus does not see the need to suffer to feel "alive" There's no doubt that this film is about luck, but i think most people have completely ignored the tie in with Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (maybe perhaps because they haven't read it). Its mentioned in the movie that Chris and Chloe's father often discuss Dostoevsky and its an important element, the central element in my mind, of the movie. Chris's quote in the beginning: ..."It's scary to think so much is out of one's control." Already there is a sense that he sees and acknowledges the need to have control, and how scary it is to be without it.
At the beginning of the story, he is lost, confused, and just walking the earth. He belittles himself and doesn't think that much of himself; very humble, especially when tom offers him a job. Much like Raskolnikov at the END of crime and punishement, after he has suffered the moral and emotional ramifications of his murder of an "ordinary" woman; He thought himself as superior, "superhuman", in the beginning of the book, which is why he was able to justify the killing of old woman pawnbroker. Going back to the movie, Chris feels exactly this way towards the end of the film, especially when he does make the decision to kill Nola and the Old Woman, he does it methodically and with precision.
Which is why, when he talks to Nola, he tells her how he didn't even flinch when he pulled the trigger. He feels he is completely justified in his actions, and if it meant stepping over some old lady to do it, so be it. Unlike Raskolnikov in crime and punishment, who at first feels justified in his actions (because he is so much smarter than the pawnbroker, more human than her, and a much better person overall), and then slowly becomes debilitated by his conscious into finding salvation through suffering and through his relationship with a prostitute whom he falls in love with.
Chris has already suffered, he has already fallen from grace (failed tennis career) so when his luck seems to change (his relationship and connections through Chloe) he feels that Nola is his way out of his humdrum life and marriage, but after reevaluating his life, he felt entitled to his new riches and new life, and slowly Nola slips as his lusty love to a mere nuisance. A problem that needed to be solved.
One of my favorite moments in the movie, looking back after watching it, was when Chris threw the ring, and it hit the rail and bounced back onto ground instead of the river. Im sure, like most in the audience, we all thought it meant his luck was over with, but it turns out that bit of luck enabled him to get away with his murders. Its the total opposite of the opening credits, when the tennis ball does the exact same thing the ring does, only this time, hitting the net and it falling on the ground meant loosing.
While he won the life he felt entitled too, he also lost the only woman whom he felt passionate about, and probably truly loved. So is he to forever live in a state of purgatory; living with a woman whom he doesn't love? Or is the life he's living outshine that? Yes, Chris was lucky in meeting Chloe, in his rise among the rick and powerful of London, in his love and relationship with Nola, and in getting away with murder So the question remains: did Chris really win, or did he really loose? "Luck favors the prepared mind"