Slevin (Josh Hartnett) seems to have bad luck. Really bad luck. In the space of a few days, he loses his job, his apartment, his girlfriend, and his wallet. In an attempt to cheer him up, his friend Nick Fisher invites Slevin to stay with him in New York. Slevin accepts the invitation and meets Nick's neighbor, Lindsey (Lucy Liu). He also meets two thugs who think that he is Nick, and drags Slevin off to see The Boss (Morgan Freeman). The Boss tells Slevin, who he believes to be Nick, that in order to pay off a debt to The Boss, Slevin must kill the son of The Boss' rival, The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). Shortly afterwards, The Rabbi also abducts Slevin, and tells Slevin he owes The Rabbi $33,000, a debt again owed by Nick Fisher. Turns out both men are doing this at the behest of Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis), a hitman who has a bizarre interest in Slevin.

The plot synopsis doesn't really do justice to the crafty setup writer Jason Smilovec put together for Lucky Number Slevin. In fact, the most joyous aspect of the entire production is Smilovec's script, which gives all the characters delightful monologues and snappy one-liners. The first third of the film features some of the smartest exposition and plot building I've seen in years. Smilovec really has a way with words, and the actors feed into the infectious fun to to make the whole thing feel genuine.

In fact, all the actors give standout performances. Josh Hartnett, who I always felt was better than just another pretty boy, completely slides into the role of Slevin with frightening ease. While his choice of roles hasn't always impressed in the past (Hollywood Homicide, anyone?), here he shows that he is more than capable of carrying a picture himself. Bruce Willis is exceedingly understated as Goodkat, and both Freeman and Kingsley project the gravitas for which they are known.

The real highlight of the cast is Lucy Liu, who plays Lindsey with such eagerness that you can't help but fall immediately in love with her. According to some of the extras, before Lucy Liu was brought in as Lindsey, the character only had a few lines. After Liu read for the part, Smilovec rewrote the part to give her a far more prominent role, and rightly so. Liu is so gung-ho for the part that this constitutes the best performance of her career to date.

The second act keeps things rolling along, shedding more light on the situation and bringing characters together in unexpected ways. Director Paul McGuigan deftly jumps back and forth in time to begin to explain how things got the way they were. Stanley Tucci appears as a disgruntled cop on Slevin's trail, and Lucy Liu just keeps getting better. Smilovec doesn't drop the humor for a second, while also adding an emotional element in a growing love affair between Slevin and Lindsey.

Unfortunately, when we arrive in the third act its as if we've entered a different move entirely. The tone of the film shifts abruptly, and all the humor dries up. Even worse, all of Smilovec's wonderful setup is painfully explained in detail. Considering how intelligently the movie handled its complex material, to suddenly spend ten minutes explaining away every single thing is more than a little disappointing. There is no more mystery, no more suspense, and worst of all, absolutely no light touch. The final act of the movie is so heavy-handed, it really feels like it was written by somebody else.

The end result is oddly disjointed. As an audience member, it feels like your willingness to go along with the story comes up short. It takes a certain amount of faith to follow a story as willfully intricate as Slevin, and for that faith to be betrayed, and in a manner so artlessly, utterly destroys the impact of the picture. It's a shame, really, because the first two thirds are so good that they almost overcome the third act by themselves. The movie isn't bad, it just could have been so much better.

The HD DVD:

The Image:
Slevin is definitely the work of a visual artist, and Paul McGuigan has a background in photography. McGuigan chose to shoot the film in a stylized manner, mixing black and white with gritty color and some over the top set pieces. The end result looks almost like hyper reality, almost as if by someone talking about a flashback, you could see yourself stepping in to the flashback. But that doesn't lend itself to crystal clear imagery, and the 2.35:1 1080p AVC transfer reflects that. Detail is good, but not as good as other titles I've seen. It seems at times that McGuigan might have actually purposely wiped away some surface detail to achieve a specific effect. Either way, this transfer is just middle of the road.

The Audio:
Slevin is a dialogue-driven film, and the sound mix reproduces that perhaps a little too well. That is to say, dialogue is clear and upfront, easy to hear and understand. The sound effects, especially some of the bigger, explosion-type effects, are rather muted, lacking bass and power. The one exception is gunfire, which has good directionality and clarity. Again, middle of the road.

The Supplements:
To kick things off, we get not one, but two audio commentaries for the film. The first is by director Paul McGuigan, who I believe was trying to run for the "most boring solo monologue" award when he recorded this. His monotone voice was an absolute insomnia-killer. Not that you're missing much, as his comments fall into the anecdote or technical note categories.

The second commentary is far more engaging. It feature Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu, with writer Jason Smilovec cut in at various points. Hartnett and Liu are very enthusiastic about the film, and have great chemistry together. Smilovec was recorded later, and actually listened to Hartnett's and Liu's comments, as he pretends to react to what they're seeing (which gets old rather quickly, I might add). Sometimes Smilovec is too clever by half, but often he has something interesting to say.

We then get several deleted scenes and an alternate ending. The first set of scenes deal with two of the Boss' thugs, and they're all very amusing. The second scene shows a tale told by an ancillary character in the film, who is horribly annoying. After that is an extended version of a scene between Freeman and Kingsley, which was better left cut. And finally comes the alternate ending, which is short, abrupt, and uninteresting. Aside from the first group of scenes, it's easy to see why these were cut from the film. All of the scenes except for the extended one can be accompanied by commentary by Paul McGuigan, who again says nothing of interest.

There are two featurettes of high quality on the disc. The first, "The Making of Lucky Number Slevin," is a 15-minute look at the film. The featurette contains interviews with all of the major members of the cast and crew, and has several funny behind-the-scenes moments, such as when Morgan Freeman tells Bruce Willis he never should have started acting in the first place. Everyone is very complementary about the script, although I would love to hear their real thoughts about the ending.

The second featurette is called "An Intimate Conversation with Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu," and that's exactly what we get. As we could see from the film, Hartnett and Liu really get along well together, and this interview confirms that. They talk about all manner of things, from sexual tension on set to working with McGuigan, to what attracted them to the project in the first place. It's easily the most candid and succinct look we get at the film, and it's the highlight of the supplements for me.

Rounding things out is the theatrical trailer, which does absolutely no justice to the film.

Conclusion:
If Lucky Number Slevin is an homage to A Fistful of Dollars as seen through the lens of Tarantino at his funniest and most talkative, then the film should have left out the violence of Leone and stuck to the words, because that's where it shines. This is two thirds of a very good movie with one bad ending. The PQ and AQ are good, but not the best the medium has to offer. Still, a healthy dose of supplements and the strong writing in the majority of the film garner a rating of Recommended.

Daniel Hirshleifer is the High Definition Editor for DVD Talk.