Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.
Lucky Number Slevin is a slick, cleverly constructed neo-noir crime thriller that leans heavily on its twisty, Tarantino-influenced screenplay. The plot is its biggest asset — a labyrinthine mistaken-identity setup that pays off with a genuinely satisfying and well-planted twist ending. The ensemble cast (Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu) is uniformly strong and clearly having fun with the sharp, witty dialogue. Visually it's competent but fairly conventional for the genre — stylish enough but not particularly distinctive. Novelty sits in the middle: it's an entertaining genre piece with a clever structure, but it wears its influences openly and doesn't break much new ground beyond its twists. The ending is a genuine highlight — the payoff is well-earned and recontextualizes much of what came before.