Description
Set in the New York underworld where nothing is as it seems, Lucky # Slevin is an action-packed, “fun-as-hell roller coaster ride” (Venice Magazine). When down-on-his-luck Slevin (Josh Hartnett) stumbles into a running feud between the city’s most feared crime bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley), he ignites an all-out war. Tracked by a mysterious assassin (Bruce Willis) and distracted by his flirtatious neighbor (Lucy Liu), Slevin must try to cheat death by turning the tables on the gangsters. “If you take the best parts of Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and The Professional, what you get is Lucky # Slevin” (Shawn Edwards, Fox-TV).Amazon.com
How boring it is to label a movie Tarantino-esque anymore. Th… More >>
Lucky Number Slevin
I did not know this was R rated and was surprised by the content within the first 2 minutes. I had to take the CD out and throw it away. Rating: 1 / 5
I am a soldier in Iraq, and I thought you could play it on a regular DVD player or computer, I was wrong. Dont buy any HD movies if you do not have an HD DVD player already. Rating: 1 / 5
The tagline reads: Wrong Time. Wrong Place. Wrong Number. It should read, Wrong Movie! Lucky Number Slevin is suggestive of a modern-day kung fu film with overwrought dialogue and all the wrong actors; the performances are over the top, and getting a raw emotion out of anyone seems like a tall order. It puzzles me that actors like Bruce Willis (16 Blocks), Josh Hartnett (Wicker Park), Lucy Liu (Domino), Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) and Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog) would accept such a derelict script.
The film thrusts into gear with a blood-all-over-the-place murder grabbing your attention within the first five minutes. Bruce Willis, as Mr. Goodkat, shows up in a wheelchair, maintaining an eerily calm demeanor with the words “look out” symbolically written all over his face. And just when the getting-your-hopes-up section of your brain starts to buzz, the momentum quickly loses steam and dissipates into a little more than a fizzle of hot air for the next hour.
Eventually, the storyline picks a leading man for the viewer to follow, Slevin (Josh Hartnett, Sin City), though despite the title, he’s quite unlucky. He comes home from work and waltzes in on his girlfriend in the middle of a lewd act with another man. Unruffled, at least not visibly, he leaves the house to gather his bearings at his friend’s apartment. The friend, Nick Fisher, isn’t there, so he makes himself at home, taking full use of the shower.
A chatty-neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) comes over to borrow a cup of sugar and inquires about him, the “mystery” man inside the apartment with a towel wrapped around his midsection. Neither one of them appears to be even the least bit suspicious of the other, though Lindsey seems to ask a lot of questions about her missing neighbor, and appoints herself as the detective who would get to the gist of it–not convincingly, I might add. Lucy Liu usually thrives in off-the-beaten-path roles, but in this movie, her character is just beaten. She spouts off dialogue that reads like stock from a scriptwriter convention’s grab bag, and never reaches her full potential.
Thus, the stakes rise for Slevin. Someone comes to look for his buddy Nick (who owes them money, and whom they’ve obviously never seen), which soon turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Slevin never tries to run from these loan sharks, and assumes the role of a full-blown, cold-blooded hit man to pay off the $96,000 debt–ummm, okay.
Towards the end of the film (and I mean the tail end), Morgan Freeman’s character, The Boss, manages to muster up a cup of sentiment, but it’s a little too late. The casting is simply amiss. Freeman is always a delight to see on the silver screen, but this character was not made for him. Neither was Ben Kingsley as “The Rabbi.” These actors are the creme-da-la-creme, but they were merely props for show, and no real acting done on their part.
Lucky Number Slevin bears a likeness to a wannabe Pulp Fiction reject during the first round of edits (this project was written by Jason Smilovic, Karen Sisco). Out of all the bomb movies I’ve seen, this has got to be, by far, amongst the worst motion pictures ever. It hurts to say that because these are some swank actors. Rating: 1 / 5
Josh Hartnett is wonderful. Sexy and funny. Sharp. The movie is mildly amusing and involving. Then the violence escalates to a mind numbing degree. At which point the movie becomes vile. Garbage. Worthless. Crap. Rating: 1 / 5
This movie was terrible. I went in expecting great things from a great cast, but the whole movie reeked of effort. I’m going to blame it on the writing and perhaps the direction. I mean when Josh Hartnett says something along the lines of “I take it no one ever told you not to use the word you’re trying to define in the definition” and that was supposed to be “smart,” “witty,” and “funny.” I knew it was over. You can really tell when someone puts in stupid references and tries to pass it off as wit. I have never written a review on Amazon (obviously I’m no critic) and it’s been a while since I have seem this movie, but I am making a conscious effort to tell everyone I know not to see this movie. The entire movie is so predictable. Aside from Lucy Liu looking very nice and one memorable seen with Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, this movie is awful. Please don’t see it. And if you like it, please reevaluate your movie viewing decisions. Rating: 1 / 5