Ringer cast pays off in 'Lucky Number Slevin'

By Nick Norman

In the indefinite past, an anonymous man loses his life to equally anonymous gangsters pursuing a debt incurred at the racetrack.

Bet on the number seven horse, he's told. It's a sure win.

Turns out a horse with a broken leg can't win. As a result, the man's wife and child find themselves at the business end of a gun barrel.

Taking place years later, "Lucky Number Slevin" tells the tale of a man named Slevin (Josh Hartnett), who turns out to be the wrong man in the wrong place at the absolute worst time. He's mistaken for his missing friend and is soon informed he owes large sums of money to two rivaling mobsters: The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley).

Why the names? Well, one's The Boss. And the other's a Rabbi.

The self-explanatory stuff ends there. As you might expect, you don't know what to expect.

The cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Sir Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu.

Enough said.

The script perfectly suits each actor. Bruce Willis, playing an infamous assassin by the name of Goodkat, could, and probably will with this role, make a child burst into tears with a simple glance. Hartnett wears only a towel for some time and then switches to an Argyll sweater-vest. Morgan speaks like God, but plays like the devil, a foil for Stanley Tucci's watchful Detective Brikowski.

In director Paul McGuigan's version of New York, long hallways extend into kaleidoscopic ecstasy. Bright colors suffuse each scene, captivating the eye's attention.

McGuigan doesn't settle for a parking lot; he wants a parking lot filled with fuchsia, canary, cyan, cherry. The sets alone could earn a recommendation to see the film.

Each wall in this stylish world sports patterns and designs reminiscent of 1960s jacket linings. Beyond the drab city sidewalks, flashes of color punctuate movement: the glimpse at the festive underside of your grandfather's aged corduroy coat; upraised arms spill a millisecond's measure of cheerfulness.

Silky, bright and complex this world mesmerizes the viewer.

Thankfully, the cinematography stay edgy without nauseating the audience with unnecessary movement. The frame consistently bristles with wonderful and consuming textures, curves, colors, and violence.

Above all, "Lucky Number Slevin" exudes a richness in storytelling, visuals, and characters.

It feels complete, well-packaged and cohesive.

But in spite of this richness, everything stays surprisingly balanced, refraining from digressions into abstraction or over-the-top aesthetics. Like a plaid tie worn with pinstripe pants, it works despite challenging the dictates of common sense.

Heavily shadowed, black-and-white flashbacks counteract a dangerously colorful apartment reminiscent of a Rubik's cube. Character humor like a dim-witted gangster and a mute Hasidic Jew hit man offset the crunch of broken noses.

Don't expect a gruesome, gritty gangster film. Though violence is pervasive, it stays palpable and grounded. It does what violence is suppose to do: it disturbs you and gets it's job done.

Fear not, the camera does not linger nor does the director overindulge.

"Lucky Number Slevin," with countless quotable lines, quirky characters and truly bizarre moments, will inevitably join the ranks of cult classics, and deservedly so. Nestle it amongst "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "The Usual Suspects," "Fight Club" and "The Boondock Saints."

When the stallions line up and the gates open one thing remains true: put all your money on "Lucky Number Slevin." This one's a sure thing.

Grade: A+

Contact Nick Norman at (408) 551-1918 or npnorman@scu.edu.