10 Critical Flops That Deserve More Praise
2. Lucky Number Slevin
When Slevin came out in 2007, it was greeted with scepticism. Critics lined up to take shots at it, branding it an incredibly stilted Pulp Fiction-lite. Its easy to see where they got this conclusion; Slevin has several things in common with Tarantinos masterpiece an array of larger-than-life characters, hyper-real urban locales, a non-linear narrative and whip-crack dialogue. This was too many things to some people, and anything which attempts to ape a masterpiece isnt going to come off well. But just because its not as good as Pulp Fiction, does this mean we should dismiss it out-of-hand? Hell no. Slevin nails the sense of easy cool which defined it's inspiration, and features sterling work from an all-star cast bringing an incredible script to life. Make no mistake, what some believe to be Slevins greatest flaw the script is actually one of its major strengths. The casts lines are razor-sharp, and complimented well by an unfolding whodunit narrative, all underpinned with a series of innovative slow reveals and twists. On top of this, all the actors are perfectly cast; Hartnett plays the vulnerable sweetness of the central character extremely well, making his gut-punching character arc all the better I defy you not to be shocked when he expertly pulls a gun on The Fairy, and then calmly converses with Bruce Willis Goodkat moments later. Were compelled to drop everything we thought we knew about the character he goes from being an unlucky goofball to a man with a real malevolent edge to him, and were all really shocked by it. Likewise, Willis seems perfectly cast for the inscrutable, perma-scowling Goodkat. Though he looks inert, his wry smile and sure-of-himself demeanour easily suggests he could kick a whole lot of ass, or even pick off two ex-Mossad operatives bursting through a wall. Furthermore, we need no reminder that when given reason to be, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley can be psychotically formidable. It's quite a thing for Freeman to give you that world-famous warm smile before threatening to kill you if you go to the police. Similarly, ever since Kingsley f-bombed his way through the runtime of Sexy Beast, we've been aware he can be a pretty scary bloke. It's an excellent, well-rounded piece where all the characters are given room to breathe. Even Lucy Liu who runs the risk of being expendable to the plot comes across well. Her character couldve been utterly vacuous, simply the means by which Slevin is humanised as a character, but the script imbues her with enough quirks and dimension for the audience to be invested in her plight. I was certainly pleased when it turned out Goodkat hadn't killed her. So whilst some would argue that no normal human being would come out with some of the zingers Slevin and company use on a regular basis, but I dont particularly care. I wouldnt watch Shakespeare to see organic dialogue, I watch it to see what somebody could do with the English language if given the chance to just run with it. In a much less vaunted fashion, Slevin does this too, allowing distinctive, interesting characters the means by which to express themselves in various kick-ass ways. Yes, these people are too cool for school, but it doesnt make them any less entertaining.