ScreenWize

Slicker than a gathering of gangsters and far too clever for its own good, The Wrong Man is a very stylish, very ingenious revenge thriller with touches of black humour and great performances from a strong cast.

Slevin (Josh Hartnett) is the wrong man, hauled alternately before opposing crime bosses Schlomo (Ben Kingsley ) and The Boss (Morgan Freeman) to repay debts incurred by a friend Nick, who’s apartment Slevin is visiting. With no alternative but to follow the demands of these heavies, Slevin gets deeply and dangerously enmeshed in gang politics, while drawing on help from neighbour Lindsay (Lucy Liu) to find out what happened to Nick. Lurking behind and between the scenes is a seriously cool hitman, Goodkat (Bruce Willis) and a seriously confused police detective, Brikowski (Stanley Tucci). The plot weaves its way around these characters, spilling blood at each twist and filling us in on the details of an old crime through flashbacks.

The visual design is fabulous, and the dialogue cracklingly witty, but the film doesn’t really develop a sense of unity, partly because of swinging moods, partly because of the thinness of Josh Hartnett’s character, Slevin, but mostly because it has to hide too much until the end. Writer Jason Smilovic and Director John McGuigan have some post-modern fun with movie references but ultimately can’t make the film as cool as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction or as smart as Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. A very good try, through!

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon