High-caliber cast saves 'Lucky Number Slevin'

Be prepared to work at enjoying Lucky Number Slevin, the punningly titled, twistingly plotted gangster picture from Scottish director Paul McGuigan (Wicker Park), who brazenly borrows from such superior movies as Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects. Even after it laboriously explains itself in the film's final minutes, expect to still be more than a little confused.

The Weinstein Company 'Lucky Number Slevin' B- The verdict: A twisty, derivative mind-game thriller, with Freeman and Kingsley as scene-stealing crime bosses. Director: Paul McGuigan Starring: Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman Run time: 110 minutes Release date: April 7, 2006 Rating: R for strong violence, sexuality and language. See showtimes Meet the director Scottish director Paul McGuigan says he was astonished to attract Oscar winners Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman to star in his movie. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Lucky Number Slevin'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Still, there is something refreshing about a mob warfare flick that asks more of our brains rather than less. Screenwriter Jason Smilovic is surely too steeped in past movies of this slim genre of cerebral shoot-'em-ups, but at least he had the good taste to pattern his movie on a couple of contemporary classics. And McGuigan somehow lured a better-than-it-deserves cast to the project to lend it an added veneer of class.

Josh Hartnett — no, not one of the better actors I'm referring to — plays Slevin, the woefully unlucky guy caught in the middle of a range war between two crime bosses, when he is apparently mistaken for a big-time gambler with major debts. That boss, named The Boss (Morgan Freeman), watched as his rival, The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), gunned down his son. Now he wants Slevin, whom he keeps calling Nick, to work off his gambling losses by assassinating The Rabbi's son in a biblical act of revenge.

Freeman and Kingsley almost make the movie worth seeing with their scenery-chewing underplaying and occasional volcanic eruptions. Hartnett cannot quite exist in the same movie with them, but in fairness, he needs to be an enigmatic cipher for the plot to work. Bruce Willis shows up as a hit man for one side or the other — or both — another homage to Pulp Fiction and Lucy Liu amuses as Slevin's neighbor, excited to get caught up in the action, even if it eludes her understanding.

Do not be surprised if you end up identifying with her the most.