Lucky Number Slevin

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Lucky Number Slevin
Directed by Paul McGuigan
Written by Jason Smilovic
Starring Josh Hartnett
Bruce Willis
Lucy Liu
Morgan Freeman
Ben Kingsley
Stanley Tucci
Music by J. Ralph
Cinematography Peter Sova
Editing by Andrew Hulme
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Weinstein Company
Release date(s) February 24, 2006 (UK)
April 7, 2006 (USA)
Running time 109 minutes
Language English
Budget 27-30,000,000USD
Gross revenue 56,308,881USD worldwide[1]
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Lucky Number Slevin (also known as Lucky # Slevin or The Wrong Man) is a 2006 crime thriller film written by Jason Smilovic, directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, Lucy Liu and Bruce Willis. Set in New York City, the plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), Lindsey (Liu), two feuding mafia bosses known as The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), and a mysterious hitman known as Mr. Goodkat (Willis).

Contents

[edit] Plot

Over the film's opening credits, two men are ambushed in separate locations and murdered, their ledgers stolen from their bodies by the unseen killers. Later, in the waiting area of a bus station, a young man is approached by Goodkat (Bruce Willis), who tells the story of Max, a family man who bets borrowed money on a fixed horse race. Unknown to Max, the mobsters financing the fix discover others betting on it and, to set an example and solidify their reputation, murder Max and his entire family. As Goodkat concludes the story, he tells the man about the "Kansas City Shuffle," a confidence trick described as "everybody looks right, and I go left." Moments later, he promptly snaps the man's neck.

In New York City, Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) answers the door to his friend's apartment and meets bubbly neighbor Lindsay (Lucy Liu), who observes that Slevin is not Nick Fisher, the apartment's renter. Relating to her a sequence of events that lead him to Fisher's apartment, Slevin confesses he has not seen Nick, and that the apartment was unlocked when he arrived. Lindsey expresses concern over Nick's absence and vows to immediately begin investigating his disappearance, first by checking his phone and tracing his most recent calls to a New York hotel. Moments after Lindsey leaves for work, Slevin is kidnapped by henchmen Sloe (Mykelti Williamson) and Elvis (Dorian Missick) who take him to The Boss (Morgan Freeman), a powerful mafia lord who, mistaking Slevin for Nick, orders him to repay Nick's hefty $96,000 debt. Realizing he is unable to pay, the Boss offers to forgive the debt if Slevin murders Yitzchok the Fairy, the son of rival mafia lord The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), the Boss's former partner, in retaliation for the Rabbi murdering the Boss's son. As Slevin departs to consider his options, the Boss turns to the now revealed Goodkat, who outlines his plan to kill both Yitzchok and Slevin, making their deaths appear to be a murder/suicide pact between two gay lovers.

Slevin returns to Nick's apartment, where he is promptly escorted by two more henchmen to meet The Rabbi, a Jewish mafia boss who also mistakes Slevin for Nick and also demands he pays Nick's sizeable debt to him. Slevin, unable to convince the Rabbi of his true identity, leaves the penthouse with the Rabbi's instructions to pay him $33,000 within 48 hours. As he leaves, Goodkat once again appears and confirms with the Rabbi their contract to kill the Boss. At Nick's apartment, Lindsey updates Slevin about her reconnaissance at the hotel, tracing the phone calls to the room of Mr. Smith, whom she discreetly photographs with her cellular phone. Showing Slevin the photograph of Smith, now revealed as Goodkat, Slevin says he doesn't recognize him. Lindsey observes that Slevin is inexplicably calm about the situation, to which Slevin replies that he has a condition known as ataraxia.

Hours later, Slevin and Lindsey go out to dinner, partly to celebrate their clear attraction to one another and partly as an opportunity to follow through their investigation and allow Slevin to survey Yitzchok, who dines several tables away. Excusing himself, Slevin approaches Yitzchok in the restroom, where they exchange phone numbers and plans for an upcoming date. As Slevin and Lindsey return home, Lindsey purposely leaves her apartment open and Slevin follows her in playfully. The two have sex and Slevin's attraction blossoms into genuine affection. Later, as Slevin considers his plan to murder Yitzchok, he is abducted a third time and shoved into an undercover police van, where he is interrogated by Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci), a thug-turned-policeman, who has been observing both the Boss and the Rabbi and the arrival of Goodkat, an infamous hitman. While acknowledging that Slevin is not Nick, Brikowski finally releases Slevin with a warning after he surrenders no useful information.

The next night, Slevin visits Yitzchok at his apartment and shoots him. As Yitzchok lays dying on the ground, Goodkat appears from behind and offers Slevin the keys to his van, which contains the body of Nick Fisher in a duffel bag. Slevin dumps Fisher's body into the Fairy's apartment and plants his own wristwatch on Fisher's wrist. Both assassins leave minutes before a bomb detonates, destroying the bodies as Slevin and Goodkat, now revealed as partners, depart.

Ratings
Argentina:  16
Australia:  MA
Brazil:  16
Canada (Alberta):  18A
Canada (BC/SK):  18A
Canada (Ontario):  18A
Canada (Manitoba):  18A
Canada (Maritime):  18A
Canada (Quebec):  18A
Finland:  K-15
France:  U
Germany:  16
Hong Kong:  IIB
Iceland:  16
Ireland:  18
Italy:  T
Malaysia:  18PL
Mexico:  C
Netherlands:  12
New Zealand:  R18
Norway:  15
Portugal:  M/16
Romania:  15 (TV)
Singapore:  R21
Spain:  18
Sweden:  15
Thailand:  18
United Kingdom:  18
United States:  R

Goodkat visits the Boss, killing his bodyguards and taking the Boss hostage, while Slevin kidnaps the Rabbi. Hours later, with both restrained to chairs in the Boss's cavernous penthouse, the Boss and the Rabbi quarrel over the deaths of their sons and spit ominous warnings when they are silenced by Slevin's arrival. Slevin explains, through a series of connected flashback scenes that fill in the gaps of the film's plot, that he and Goodkat were responsible for the assassination of the two bookies at the beginning of the film. Inside their ledgers, Slevin and Goodkat discover Nick Fisher, a convenient loser who owes both men money. As Goodkat kills Fisher in the airport in the movie's opening scene, Slevin locates and murders the Boss's son with a sniper rifle, prompting the Boss to hire Goodkat to kill the Rabbi's son in retaliation. As Slevin assumes Fisher's identity, Goodkat meets with the Boss and agrees to kill Yitzchok, asking that the Boss pick up Nick Fisher as part of his grander plan. Hours later, Goodkat meets with the Rabbi and reveals the contract on his son, while offering to spare Yitzchok and murder the Boss for more money. The Rabbi accepts the terms and per Goodkat's instructions, meets with Fisher to collect his debt. Thus, both Slevin and Goodkat are allowed access to both mobster's heavily fortified apartments. Slevin then convinced both mobsters that they were in charge, when in fact Goodkat was playing them off each other in order to get Slevin past their guards.

In the penthouse, Slevin reveals his motivations for this complex plot; his father was Max, who was murdered along with his wife for the 1979 horseracing incident described by Goodkat at the beginning of the film, and whose killers are now revealed to have been the younger Boss and Rabbi. Goodkat was hired to murder Slevin, being "the man who takes the jobs no-one else wants to do", but decides to spare him out of a sense of mercy. Over twenty years, Slevin has been trained by Goodkat so that they could orchestrate his revenge. Simmering, Slevin slides plastic bags over both the Boss's and Rabbi's heads and asphyxiates them the same way they murdered his father. The Boss fights in vain trying to escape from the bag, while The Rabbi simply knodds and accepts his fate. Moments later, Detective Brikowski answers a call from a fellow officer, who after looking at Slevin's surveillance picture recalls that 1979 incident; he mentions that the boy was never found, and that "Slevin" was the name of the horse. Brikowski, revealed in a flashback as the gunman that shot Max's wife, realises who Slevin really was moments before he appears in the back seat and shoots Brikowski in the head. Before Brikowski's death, the meaning of Slevin's surname is revealed - "Kelevra" is Hebrew for "bad dog" - the partner of the "good cat".

Because Lindsey can now identify Goodkat, Slevin is told she must die. Apprehensive about the notion, Slevin instructs her to wear body armor and a squib to protect her from Goodkat's bullets and fool him into thinking she died. In the closing scene, Goodkat tracks Slevin and Lindsey to the airport. Slevin explains he didnt think Goodkat wouldn't understand, to which Goodkat responds that he would have (while remembering his first meeting with Sleving). He then he gives Sleving the watch planted on Nick's corpse, which belonged to Slevin's father, before disappearing.

The film closes with a short flashback showing Goodkat and the young Slevin. Goodkat takes him into his car, where Slevin plays with his father's watch and is told that it will be a long time before they can return to New York. They turn on the radio only to hear the hit song known as "The Kansas City Shuffle."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards and nominations

Directors Guild of Canada:

  • Nominated: Outstanding Sound Editing - Feature Film

Milan International Film Festival:

  • Won: Best Film (Paul McGuigan)
  • Won: Best Actor (Josh Hartnett)

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA:

  • Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Music in a Feature Film
  • Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects and Foley in a Foreign Film

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • On promotional material for the film, Ben Kingsley's credit included his honorary title. At first, the actor was singled out for some criticism as such things are usually omitted from professional credits, but this turned out to have been a mistake by a studio executive unfamiliar with the conventions for titled actors.[2]
  • In an alternate ending found on the DVD, Slevin shoots Lindsey.
  • Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnett were in another movie together, Sin City. Hartnett plays a hitman in this film, as well.
  • The film's title in Australia is The Wrong Man. This is the title of a 1956 Hitchcock film in which the lead character has a case of mistaken identity, a theme which many Hitchcock films, and indeed this film, share.[3] In fact, the main character's plight in North by Northwest is noted by The Rabbi as being similar to Slevin's.
  • The name of the film comes from an episode of The New Shmoo. Shmoo is also referenced by Morgan Freeman in the movie.[citation needed]
  • Nick Fisher was listed in the betting books as number 1729, which is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan Number.
  • The Rabbi tells Goodkat he believes the boy isn’t Nick Fischer, because he can always tell if someone is lying. Throughout the film, people who want to mislead The Rabbi always phrase their statements to be true in a literal sense.
  • Parallels have been drawn between the film and Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction; notably, both films feature Bruce Willis, share character types (e.g., Lindsey and Fabienne as the killer's innocent girlfriend), and treat on similar themes such as the relationship between fathers and sons, honour among criminals, and a person's capacity for mercy. The dialogue style is similar, and both have a subplot involving a father's watch. [4]
  • Bruce Willis' character, Goodkat, is shown on many of the movie's posters (as well as the DVD cover) holding a Springfield XD handgun, which ironically is never used by his character or any other character in the movie.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lucky Number Slevin Box Office Statistics, Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ BBC News: Kingsley downplays 'Sir' furore
  3. ^ The Wrong Man (2006) - Yahoo!7 Movies
  4. ^ The Guardian review of Lucky Number Slevin, Peter Bradshaw

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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