Review: Sexy Beast (2001)

This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

Sexy Beast

Rating

Director

Jonathan Glazer

Screenplay

Louis Mellis, David Scinto

Length

1h 29m

Starring

Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, James Fox, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Alvaro Monje, Robert Atiko

MPAA Rating

Review

With the recent rash of heist films like “The Score,” “The Heist” and “Ocean’s Eleven,” it seems that the genre has reemerged in the modern movie landscape. “Sexy Beast” is an unusual and brash take on the genre from the independent arm of 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight.

Gal (Ray Winstone) is a retired jewel thief who’s settled down with his wife in a far away, South American country. A former associate of his, Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) arrives in town one day seeking his assistance in a heist his boss is trying to pull off. When Gal flat-out refuses, Don gets verbally and then physically violent ending in a bloody confrontation that forces Gal to take the job.

Until that point, the film plays very much like “Pulp Fiction” in its use of graphic language and violence without the pacing or editing style. From there, the film follows the heist formula to the letter, often exposing itself to the “Pulp” styles absent in its first half. It does take that first half of the film to get into an otherwise uneventful story. First-time director Jonathan Glazer, obviously inspired by “Pulp” director Quentin Tarantino, failed to capture the panache or technique of the Tarantino classic.

Kingsley gives an excellent turn as the vile, contemptable Logan. His screen time is limited, but when he’s on it, he steals the show. While his tart tongue may be surprising after his more gentle performances in “Schindler’s List” and his Oscar-winning work in “Gandhi,” it is a welcome addition to his repertoire. Winstone, on the other hand, is at best uneven. He plays the role adequately, but bounces between good and mediocre.

Louis Mellis and David Scinto are responsible for the run of the mill screenplay. The standard heist script is only slightly better with the embellishments Mellis and Scinto give it. The script never shows us anything surprising or original and lacks the finesse that many films of its type have.

“Sexy Beast” is like the archetypical battle of good versus evil and the redemption of one’s evil soul. It examines how a man who attempts to “go straight” from a life of crime can have the best intentions, but in the end is trapped by his own thieving past.

The movie has its good points and its bad points and they balance themselves in a way that make the film neither great nor terrible. A somewhat pedestrian film, “Sexy Beast” is a simple rumination on a complex theme without the budget of a blockbuster, which may have hired better actors to accompany Kingsley.