Lucky Number Slevin

My rating: 7/10

I have to say that for saying when I watched this I hadn't really heard much about it, that I was very impressed!

McGuigan's thriller depicts a mistaken identity scenario in which we see our protagonist, Slevin (Josh Hartnett) mistaken for someone else by two powerful mob bosses. To say much more would be too telling of the plot so I will refrain from revealing any more.

This film paints a very complex idea onto an intelligent script. It maintains clever dialogue that allows our attention to be held throughout its entirety. Ok, so I will admit that although engaging some of the wordy dialogue used does seem a bit unnecessary. It comes across as if it's trying too hard to be sophisticated and clever when really it doesn't need to be as the rest of the film gives it its elegance.

I really enjoyed the direction and cinematography within this film. It has a real beautiful, elegant Sin City feel to it that allows the visual vibrancy to remain engaging. It maintains a quick pace and an air of swiftness is shown between each shot that draws a parallel to the smooth nature of our main character, Slevin.

Slevin's character is great. He is a really charismatic, likeable guy that makes it fun for us to watch and gives us a want to help him. He is a smooth talker but also reatains the form of a clumsy happy-go-lucky person. On our first introduction of him we immediately form empathy as we see his bad day go from worse to catastrophically disastrous. It seems an important thing to be able to feel this for him so immediately as our relationship with Slevin is important, although we don't necessarily understand this importance until the end.

Lucky # Slevin is a very engaging film. The major theme "mistaken identity" in which it draws on is done so on so many levels and we are demonstrated this in a physical, metaphoric and personal way. The cast is great, seeing the likes of Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Josh Hartnett and Lucy Lou all performing to a great standard. It is a really good visual film to see and gives you so much to think about throughout that you are completely drawn into its world.

I was very impressed with what I saw as prior I did not have that high expectations and I definitely think that the camera tricks and editing will become even better on a second viewing since I will already understand the plot!