Lucky # Slevin

The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment / 2006 / 110 Minutes / R
Street Date: September 12, 2006

The story is set in the New York underworld where nothing is as it seems. When down-on-his-luck Slevin (Josh Hartnett) stumbles into a running feud between the city’s most feared crime bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley), he ignites an all-out war. Tracked by a mysterious assassin (Bruce Willis) and distracted by his flirtatious neighbor (Lucy Liu), Slevin must try to cheat death by turning the tables on the gangsters.

After the first ten minutes, it became clear that this was going to be an enigmatic film, but I couldn’t figure out the mystery. A mystifying tone is handled very well by director Paul McGuigan, editor Andrew Hulme, and the actors. Indeed, this film unravels a mystery while progressing in a linear fashion. And the most intriguing thing about the screenplay is that it avoids telegraphing the climactic revelations. It’s always nice to be challenged by a good mystery.

Much about Lucky # Slevin is impressive. Despite the film’s tight budget, it attracted the star-power of Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu, Stanley Tucci, Josh Hartnett, and Bruce Willis. I think it was the clever screenplay. And since writer Jason Smilovic has a short track record of produced material, this was a quite a coup. Director Paul McGuigan showed great promise as a director with his 2000 film, Gangster No. 1. And McGuigan’s friendship with Smilovic helped launch the script into production after being initially shelved for a few years. Director of photography Peter Sova photographs the film very well with a wide cinematic feel including some great shots of New York and artistic compositions of Francois Seguin’s strong and stylish production design.

The solid production emboldens an East Coast feel, enlivens the plot structure, provides a bit of comedy and heightens the quirky characters. I certainly recognize the talents of the people and the craft of this film. It is rated R, so one may expect harsh language, violence, and maybe a little nudity. All are there. The one thing that some may find repulsive is the cruelty of the violence. The film seemed to enjoy agonizing beatings, point-blank shootings, and tortuous deaths. It could be argued that it is warranted given the context of the story, but I became increasingly uncomfortable with the over-cooked savagery. It makes more sense in comic book films like Sin City, but seemed overly indulgent here.

There is significant talent involved, but for those sensitive to realistic violence (as apparently I may be), this may not be an appropriate film. It’s laudable for its interesting plot structure, mystery, strong acting, and sure direction, but you should be aware of some cruel indulgences.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. The colors of this film employ the differing concrete tones of grays and browns for exterior New York City street scenes. The interior scenes display far more vibrant tones, especially rich reds, golds, and browns. Greens also look fresh. Flesh tones appear very natural, but slightly pale in most scenes. Finely grained textures of facial close ups are very clear, apparent, for example, on Bruce Willis’ aging face at the beginning of the film as he sits in a wheelchair, calmly talking. Small object detail is occasionally very clear such as a wallpaper pattern at the end of a hallway. However, edge halos are noticeable throughout, easily seen on construction scaffolding and within car grills. Contrast looks decent with smooth whites that don’t bloom or crush (except for some intentionally rough air terminal scenes), and blacks are deep with little crush. Pleasant shadow detail is revealed in the layers of each actor’s wardrobe. Night scenes can show a little fading now and then. I didn’t notice any compression issues.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The film’s audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The dynamic range is solid with occasional excitement. Highs are fairly clean and somewhat airy, and low frequencies have some surprising depths that can challenge a subwoofer. Dialogue is very clear with a little bit of automated dialogue replacement noticeable at times, which isn’t a big deal. Everything sounds very clear. There is some separation among the fronts and interesting imaging during the action scenes. The music sounds very nice and can be front heavy, which is fine. Employing EX decoding can place some proper sound effects behind the viewer for more of an immersing experience. Surround effects have a strong frequency range, display some discrete activity and are applied fluidly throughout the film. This is a great audio mix that most should enjoy.

A French Dolby Digital 5.1 track is also included. Subtitles in English and Spanish are included as are English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

First is a screen-specific audio commentary by director Paul McGuigan. Some commentaries have a lot of dead spots; not this one. McGuigan, with a strong European accent, rambles on and on about casting and the story and action onscreen. He does talk about some technical issues, but he mostly talks about the story. Without inflecting his voice very much, McGuigan can sound monotonous, but he’s sincerely interested in his film and the sheer volume of his talking reveals quite a bit.

A second, screen-specific audio commentary is included. Part of the time Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu speak, and then writer Jason Smilovic has a separate commentary that the producers of this disc seem to have spliced to the actors’ comments. Hartnett and Liu talk about many behind-the-scene antidotes and Liu is especially spirited. Smilovic takes his film very seriously and tries to input many different conventions into his story and did many rewrites right up until shooting.

Deleted scenes, an extended scene, and an alternative ending are included (20:35). The scenes are Elvis and Stone, The Bodyguards’ Story, The Rabbi and the Boss, and Alternative Ending. A nice “play all” feature is available as well as optional commentary by director Paul McGuigan. The Alternative Ending was actually what I was expecting from this film. It’s depressing and cruel (sadly fitting for everything that came before it) and kind of reminded me of the original ending of Clerks back in 1994. The film’s theatrical ending has more texture, even if it doesn’t ring as true as the alternative ending.

Another featurette called Making Lucky # Slevin (10:20) is available with optional subtitles, which is always nice. Most of this short is presented with good quality, full screen video. There are many on-set interviews with the principal cast, director, writer, and producer and lots of behind-the-scenes footage as well as clips from the film. Most fawn over the casting power, but everyone genuinely seems to be having a great time. This film was a collaborative effort. A fun featurette.

Last is a theatrical trailer which runs 2:12 and gives away far too much of the plotline. It’s probably wise to avoid this trailer until you’ve seen the film.

The 110-minute film is organized into eighteen chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

A clever plot wrapped in a mystery, a strong production, and a strong cast are the highlights of this crime melodrama. Just be aware that the film seems to revel in moments of cruelty. The transfer is fairy good except for some edge halos, the audio is better than expected, and the supplements are solid. I’m torn. It’s a good film, a well-made film, but I didn’t enjoy the violence. Make an informed decision.