Sexy Beast

This is one fascinating dark little film. Supported by fierce cinematography, black humour, chilling characters and strong language, 'Sexy Beast' works on many levels. It can be viewed as a conversational film, a study of characters and a psychological thriller. The writing is brilliant as some of the dialogues induce both humour and chill. The screenplay is pretty tight, leaving no place for loose ends or irrelevant subplots. Glazer's direction is wonderful as he keeps the viewer engaged throughout the entire 90 minutes and effectively infuses wicked humour and suspense. The characters are so interesting, while we hate Logan, we sympathize with his counterfeit Gal who is a retired gangster trying to live a straight life with his family and loyal friends. Logan desperately wants him to do a job but Gal bravely yet hesitantly turns it down. Logan won't give up and even he notices that everybody hates him (which is beginning to make him feel powerless). The cast deliver solid performances. Ray Winstone is amazing. He easily conveys Gal's complexity and dilemma with pathos. Ben Kingsley as the hatefully irritating and intimidating Logan is superb. Ian McShane is scary. Amanda Redman is electrifying in a smaller role. 'Sexy Beast' is one slick wicked little film. Not a movie for everyone, but worth watching for those who enjoy black humour and dark cinema.

..the Winner is...Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, hands down (and panting on all fours). Ben also wins the award for Best (and most frequent and creative) Usage of the "c" word, which plays a major part in this outrageously deranged and always thoroughly entertaining (even at its bloodiest) full-frontal bombast of a film.

The plot couldn't be any simpler: retired gangster Gal (yes, that's his name) is happy lounging around the pool at his Spanish villa with the woman of his dreams and a drink in his hand. But the big bad brutal bulldog Don (Kingsley) has been sent to convince him to do One Last Job. Gal says no. Donnie doesn't like this answer. Violence ensues.

To say any more would be a disservice; this movie has to be experienced, not explained. Suffice to say, the brilliant performances (Ray Winstone and Ian McShane in particular) and the amazingly slick editing make every second of Sexy Beast a kinetic foray into surrealism and a tour de force of epic proportions for Kingsley. So why are you still bloody sitting there, you steaming c***?!!! Go rent it now.

18 years ago I think I thought of it as another flashy, profane, British gangster movie with an astonishing performance by Ben Kingsley. Now I think it's one of the best flashy, profane, creative and well written, British or not, heist movies made. With an astonishing performance by Ben Kingsley. Everybody's good. Behind and in front of the camera What really surprised me was how good it is now, how well made it is that it could have been released this week and there'd be nothing to complain about.

To put it simply: I love this movie! I've really been looking forward to this movie, mostly because of Kingsley's acclaimed performance. And he is indeed brilliant in the role of the brash, uninhibited, shamelessly ruthless Don Logan--a role that should go down in history. I haven't seen Jim Broadbent's performance in "Iris," so I can't technically say if Kingsley deserved the Oscar over him, but I'm glad he got nominated, because it would be an abomination if he didn't. Kingsley is absolutely terrifying, not showing a bit of remorse. And it's a real joy to see the man who's famous for playing the well-known pacifist Gandhi take on a role which requires him to spout the "f" word 500 times in one whole minute. OK, I may have been exaggerating there, but believe me...there are scenes in this movie that make "Pulp Fiction" look like a G-rated Disney feature. Let's just say I've never heard the "f" word used so many times, at such a lightning-fast pace. Kingsley has some memorable moments, including one where he gets in trouble for smoking on a plane, and cops an alibi involving the male flight attendants sexually abusing him. As cruel as he is, I found myself laughing hysterically at Don. As Kingsley said himself, Don is the type of character who says the kind of things that are on most people's minds, but they're too afraid to let it out.

Though Kinglsey steals the film, Ray Winstone is the star and he's also great. I haven't seen a great many English films, so I don't remember seeing him before, but now I hope to see him in more films. And I was impressed to find out the movie was made by a first-time director. Jonathan Glazer did a terrific job, creating a gloriously frenetic pace. The running time is a succinct 85 minutes, and the film never takes a breath. It always captures you with in-your-face images. Glazer's sense of style is amazing. Not to mention the soundtrack is excellent. It's a nice irony: how this dark comedy ends to the tune of Dean Martin's "Sway."

On my first viewing, it took time for me to get accustomed to the cockney accents, but after approximately 30 minutes I was able to decipher most of the dialogue--and the film has some great, memorable dialogue! It's not like with "Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels" where I can watch it 100 times and still need subtitles. Not to mention "Sexy Beast" is a much more entertaining film.

All I can say is don't expect an intricate plot, with many twists and turns. The plot is all pretty simple: Retired gangster lounges around his beautiful house in Spain, then gets persuaded into doing one last heist. I'm sure that sounds very familiar. But the beauty is in its simplicity. And the film isn't in any way pretentious. It is what it is--and what it is is a smart, energetic, entertaining, hilarious, extremely well-acted dark comedy.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

This is a spectacular piece of British cinema only made better by the lack of Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis.

Ben Kingsley portrayal of a nasty bastard is amazing his delivery is to the point and scary, His character has a slight smile and staring eyes that drill into you and talking himself into a frenzy makes him even more horrible to cope with.

What is shown in this film is very quick editing combined with sound continuity so the cuts are invisible and unintrusive, strong use of colour, using a low key to make even the sun of Spain seem dark and a style unseen before, the lack of cliché ridden cockney slang makes this film even more credible.

When the film first starts we get a dream like underwater shot which you are not expecting, a metaphor for 'living the dream' possibly, but throughout the film the increasing amount of surrealism adds another layer to this almost perfect British gangster film.