Paul McGuigan
Slevin - Patto Criminale

"Slevin - Criminal Pact", or when you try to make Pulp Fiction with more action and a smoother direction. The screenplay and dialogues are clearly inspired by Tarantino's filmography, without, however, reaching its refinement and directorial class.

The film, full of shootouts and very violent scenes (the killing of young Slevin's family), sees our hero (J. Hartnett), mistaken for someone else, ending up in the crossfire of two criminal groups commanded, respectively, by the Rabbi (B. Kingsley) and the Boss (M. Freeman), who will do everything to make his life a living hell. The plot becomes increasingly tangled with the entrance of the super cynical hitman Mr. Goodkat (B. Willis), the meddlesome cop (S. Tucci), and the seemingly dumb/curious neighbor (L. Liu).

Nothing is as it seems in this sparkling gangster movie, where everything is in its place (the good guy who turns from prey to predator, the truly ruthless villains, the betrayals, the love story with a happy ending, etc...), but it's reached through innumerable plot twists. Thanks to the many "changes in direction" and many surprises, the plot, in the end, is never trivial, even though there's nothing original.

To entertain from start to finish, the film banks on always excessive and over-the-top dialogues, rendering each character exaggeratedly stereotyped, at the risk of diverting attention from the story. The "shell," as in Tarantino or Ritchie's films, is essentially empty, but while those shine for characters and dialogues, here things are a bit worse, as they are less witty and perhaps too out of context (for example, Freeman and Kingsley only perform monologues that highlight their acting skills, but within the story, they are pure fluff). There are, however, great ideas, and the slightly kitsch interiors and a bit of seventies atmosphere aren't bad at all in the film context.

Noteworthy is Hartnett's performance, who is "tossed around" (even half-naked) here and there for half the movie without ever taking himself too seriously or becoming too comical; let's say he found the right balance, despite everything being exaggerated to the extreme.

"Slevin - Criminal Pact", without a doubt, is worth at least one viewing. The fun moments are numerous and Paul McGuigan's direction is anything but predictable.