Sexy Beast (2001)
Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane; d. Johnathan Glazer; B+

Sexy Beast is the critically aclaimed debut of music video director Johnathan Glazer, a slowly-pased heist film highlighted by good performances and superb camerawork/cinematography. Ray Winstone stars as Gary "Gal" Dove, a retired heistman living in a luxiurious villa in Spain with his wife, DeeDee (Amanda Redman). With Gal's violent and illegal past behind him, he and his wife can enjoy a care-free existance in Spain, with frequent visits from Gal's friend Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and his wife, Jackie (Julianne White). One day, though, the past runs up with Gal when a nervous Jackie tells Gal that she has reseived a call from Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), a determined and intimidating figure from Gal's past. Don is coming to Spain in order to convince Gal to come out of retirement and help out in a vault break in, but finds Gal understandibly reluctant. Unfortunatley, Don, as the trailer says, "doesn't do 'no'," refuses to hear Gal's excuses and results in cruel threats and violence to push Gal to the edge, to litteraly scare him into doing the job. But Don is merely a human, and not nearly as much as a concern for Gal as DeeDee is, whom he would do anything for. Will Don be more successful in swinging Gal one way than his wife, or will Gal successfuly rid of the past as well as Don? Only seeing the movie will tell...

If you've seen the trailer to Sexy Beast, you know that it is practically gushing over Ben Kignsley. And why shouldn't it? While the film itsself may be largely overrated, his performance is not. He succeeds in playing a determined, intimidating man, even though he himself may not look intimidating at all. Other performances in this film are good to decent, but not truly noteworthy outside of Ray Winstone. Winstone plays his character sympathetically and convincingly, a man who obviously loves his wife to death and would do anything to keep her safe and happy. Of course the major problem with the performances is that the dialouge is hard to understand thanks to the accents. Once you do get past the difficult accents, you find that the dialouge doesn't have much to say. Thankfully the film floats more on its visuals than its dialouge. Images help move the story along more, which isn't a surprise coming from a great video director such as Glazer. The images, though, are difficult to asses at first, but as the film goes along you can easily put them together. Likewise excellent is the pacing of the film, which at first may seem annoyingly slow. However as the film goes along you realize that certain images and events are intended to give insight into the characters and the lifestyles of the characters. All in all, I would definatley reccomend this film soley on the visuals and Kingsley's performance. If you can't see it in the theaters, wait to see it on widescreen DVD.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001