A surprising thriller with a twist

See it for the interesting story and the great cast.

Slevin is mistaken for being someone else, and ends up in the middle of a war between two rival crime bosses, The Rabbi and The Boss. In addition, Slevin is under surveillance by the relentless Detective Brikowski as well as the infamous assassin Goodkat. Now he has to find a way out of this mess before he ends up dead, but there is more to this situation than what meets the eye.

The way the story is played out in “Lucky Number Slevin” is perhaps a bit predictable, although it still leaves you guessing for a few things until the end. The problem lies in that we are told from the start that we are going to be misdirected, which in turn makes us not entirely comfortable with the terms of the movie. But in any case, it is the interesting storytelling which makes this movie stand out, along with the great performances of the cast.

Lucy Liu takes on an interesting role as the sweet coroner, for once she is not playing her regular tough chick role. Josh Hartnett is great and convincing, and keeps you riveted to the screen to see what happens next. John Turturro is also good as the vigilante detective, and Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley are marvelous as the two crime bosses. But it is Bruce Willis who steals the show as the enigmatic assassin Mr. Goodkat, even though he has the least time on the screen.