An innocent man visiting a friend in New York City becomes embroiled in a dangerous series of events after being mistaken for the very man he has come to the city to see. Upon arriving at the empty apartment of his old friend Nick, the unassuming Slevin (Josh Hartnett) is troubled to hear the voice of his missing friend's next door neighbor Lindsay (Lucy Liu) expressing concern as to Nick's safety and whereabouts. When Slevin ventures into Lindsay's apartment only to be greeted by the uninviting fist of a thuggish mob henchman, he quickly realizes that Nick is indeed in grave danger. Soon summoned by the big boss and accused of being the deeply indebted Nick, Slevin's attempts to prove his identity are foiled by the fact that his wallet had been stolen upon arrival in the city. With time running out and a complex plot to assassinate one of the city's most powerful crime bosses slowly coming into focus, the arrival of a notorious hit-man named Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) forces Slevin to step up his desperate search and reclaim his identity before he's forced to pay a debt that could cost him his life.

Which way do you want to go, which way. Did you shut your brain down and not dissect this movie and enjoy it for what it was, a fun caper where you may know the outcome, you may know the secrets of the movie but man was it a fun ride anyways to get there. Or are you the kind who will think the movie telegraphed its moves to easily and early, the kind of movie that is trying to trick you but at the same time it tells you that it is trying to trick you. Because sadly if you saw the later you may have been disappointed, the movie doesn’t do anything new really, what it does is do it very well instead. I am the former, I loved this cool caper of a movie, with its slick exterior, despite its transparency at times, because I was able to figure out the caper, I was able to think enough moves ahead that I saw the checkmate and had fun in doing so. Like a good game of chess the ability to see further than your opponent always leads to victory and it is why when you finally learn to think a half dozen moves ahead that the game truly becomes it interesting. Sometimes it’s the same way in movies that are trying to get you to play a game like Lucky Number Slevin and getting their before the movie does, doesn’t ruin it for you it just made the game that much more fun and made you really like and possibly love the movie for doing so.

It’s hard to dissect why sometimes a movie being transparent works and other times it fails miserably. I think in the case of Lucky Number Slevin its because the movie wants you to figure it out, to become involved in the movie like the characters who are also trying to figure it out and to see if you can get their before they do. On the other hand when it fails its not because it wants you to figure it out but because it wants to try and say haha at the end when it throws it at you, used and already discovered much like in movies like Hide and Seek to use an example of a movie that was transparent but failed in making in fun in doing so. The movie is slick like an oil spill, making you twist and turn through its moments filled with action, sex, gunfights, mystery and intrigue what more could you ask out of a movie.

To say this movie has a stellar cast would be a vast understatement because the movie easily has some of the best actors and actress in all of Hollywood like a walk down the red carpet with one A name after another. And the smallest of those names Josh Hartnett is the one that makes the movie work and the one the movie is all about and the one the movie couldn’t have worked without. He is so cool, so unruffled, wisecracking his way through danger, dodging pitfall after pitfall all the while never stopping the litany of one liners that make the movie so much fun. Bruce Willis plays Bruce Willis, a hitman that is the best money can buy, unflappable and cool as a cucumber. Morgan Freeman plays Morgan Freeman a mafia boss who is more intellect than brawn and fights his battles on the mental battleground. Ben Kingsley plays Ben Kingsley another mafia boss that is more about intimidation and force than brains. And Lucy Liu brings it all together with her sexy, fun and quirky character that is Lucy Liu. The cast makes the movie, all these big names were either going to fail or succeed and lucky for us they succeeded in a caper movie that’s just like all the others but done with just panache and style to make you want to add it to your collection.

Grade: B+