Sexy Beast (2000)

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Director: Jonathan Glazer

Writers: Louis Mellis, David Scinto

Stars: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, James Fox, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White


A retired ex-patriate gangster (Ray Winstone), living in Spain, is reluctantly pulled back to his native England to do One More Job. 


The one doing the pulling is an absolutely ferocious Ben Kingsley, delivering a startling performance that appears to have taken everyone by surprise. 


It's a pity that his memorable Don Logan doesn't appear in a movie that is worthy of him.  


Much of the first part of the film consists of Logan bullying Gal Dove, his wife (Amanda Redman), and friends (Cavan Kendall and Julianne White) in order to get Gal to agree to do the job. 


Don disappears from the film, with no particular consequences for anyone. 


The heist goes off in peremptory fashion, hardly seeming to be worth all of the build-up. 



All through the film, I felt that director Jonathan Glazer and screenwriters Louis Mellis and David Scinto were setting me up for something surprising, but it never came off. 


Although it plays a small part in the film, there is also a very contrived and pretentious running theme about Gal's sense of guilt being represented in dream sequences by a Scary Rabbit-Monster Man.  


The cast does magnificent work, but the material lets them down.



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