Dan Among Den

Our protagonist Slevin is having a bad run of luck. He got fired, learned his apartment had been condemned, and then walked in on his girlfriend having sex with another man. His good friend Nick invited him to New York for a week of debauchery to make him forget what’s-her-name. Unfortunately, Slevin’s bad luck seems to follow him. He gets mugged on his way from the airport, and once he gets to Nick’s apartment, he can’t even find Nick.

Then it gets messy. It turns out Nick is in pretty heavy debt to two different mobsters, and not just any two, but two who are in the midst of a ruthless war with each other. Why is this Slevin’s problem? Well, he looks a little like Nick, he’s in Nick’s apartment, and he has no ID since the mugging, but don’t worry. He can make it all go away by doing his little part in the war against the rival mob, right? Against both? By this point, of course, the police are starting to take note of Slevin and want a piece of him for themselves.

After that... well, then it gets complicated, and I’ll leave that for the movie itself. It has a wonderful cast of Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, and Josh Hartnett as Slevin. Hartnett was the unknown for me in that lineup, but he delivered a wonderful performance as he moved through the insanity with a relaxed air reminiscent of Mel Gibson in Payback. It was also one of those satisfying movies where everyone got what they deserved.

I give it four and a half clean kills. Check it out.