Lucky Number Slevin

Directed by Paul McGuigan, Lucky Number Slevin follows Josh Hartnett’s Slevin Kelevra as he finds himself inadvertently drawn into a conflict between warring mob bosses (Morgan Freeman’s The Boss and Ben Kingsley’s The Rabbi). Filmmaker McGuigan, armed with a script by Jason Smilovic, delivers an erratic yet mostly watchable thriller that benefits from a consistently surprising narrative and the top-notch efforts of its various performers, with, in terms of the latter, Harnett’s engaging, affable work matched by a supporting cast littered with agreeably familiar faces (including Robert Forster, Bruce Willis, Corey Stoll, and Stanley Tucci). And although the movie is, at times, far quirkier than one might’ve preferred, particularly in the stagy, somewhat inert midsection, Lucky Number Slevin builds towards an unexpectedly engrossing third act that essentially (and effectively) places virtually everything that’s already occurred in an entirely new light – with the gripping bent of this stretch ultimately cementing the picture’s place as a satisfying (albeit palpably overlong) endeavor that might just fare even better upon repeat viewings.

*** out of ****