April 16, 2006

  • Movie I've seen recently...

    Lucky Number Slevin (2006)  C+

    Ever since Pulp Fiction popularized the modern quirky gangs and crime drama, there's been many movies that are following in the footsteps of Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece. Jason Smilovic and Paul McGuigan's "Lucky Number Slevin" is one of those movies. While the movie was enjoyable enough, there's a certain finesse in making said quirky gang and crime drama work like Pulp Fiction did, and unfortunately Slevin doesn't exactly get it quite right.

    You got the motley characters, the quirky dialogue, and the surprises, which is pretty much the correct formula for a movie like this. The problem lies with the first 3/4th of the film that tries much too hard in that formula, to the point where it becomes too self-aware of itself and all that's missing would be the actors' winking at the camera. I got the impression that this film isn't suppose to be a parody or even a satire, but it sure acts like one. Things just felt a little too deliberate with the events that happen and the dialouge that was said, that I completely lost any respectable believability in the film.

    I'll give it this much though, the concept of the film however is rather interesting, and I wished that the writer and director would have followed the tone set at the last 1/4th of the movie. The mystery plot comes together well enough, and the actors all did a fine job in their roles (especialy Lucy Liu). There were some character development that felt "off," but I blame it on the screenplay and not the actors.

    So despite my criticisms at the flaws of the film, I thought the movie was okay enough, just not spectacular.