Sexy Beast * (one star)
Gangsters, violence and porn stars will more often than not captivate an audience for some time, unfortunately the formula fails in Sexy Beast.
British gangster films have recently fluctuated between extreme violence and satiric comedy. Examples of this genre include Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Smoking Barrel and Snatch. Unfortunately, moviegoers who expect Sexy Beast to offer up the same kind of smart storyline and dark but imaginative humor will be, for the most part, disappointed.
The story line is trite and the unexpected twists and turns that moviegoers have come to expect from this kind of movie are unfortunately absent. The struggle between the two leads is entertaining and even hilarious at first, but the routine quickly grows old.
The movie is rife with peculiar symbolism, including several bizarre and incongruous dream sequences in which the main character, Gal, is threatened by a humanoid "rabbit monster." The viewer leaves with the distinct feeling that these oddities were tacked on in order to make a basically predictable movie more interesting.
As a whole, the film progresses jerkily, as though it were filmed in short, unrelated pieces that were patched together at the end. Perhaps this shouldn't come as a surprise: the film's director, Jonathan Glazer, has made his name in the UK with inventive Guinness commercials, a formula which it seems he has applied in his feature-film debut.
Sexy Beast Directed by: Jonathan Glazer Starring: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley Rated: R
