Sexy Beast (2000)

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.

Fmovies: A fantastic British gangster movie that goes for authenticity over 'Mockney' laughs. Continuing where 'Performance' left off (it even features James Fox) this movie has stand-out performances from all of it's cast, with Ben Kingsley (as Don Logan) producing the scariest bad-guy in cinema since Dennis Hopper's 'Frank'. Ray Winstone & Amanda Redmond are perfectly cast, with Winstone flinching superbly from the terrifying aggression exuded by Kingsley and, to a lesser extent, McShane. Ian McShane does a lot to bury his lightweight 'Lovejoy' persona with an excellent, menacing performance that contrasts well against Winstone's thin bravado, but the honours here have to go to Kingsley who is simply stunning, turning in a masterclass performance and proving (once again) that he is a top-drawer actor with every aspect of his character (posture; accent; attitude) finally honed and utterly (appallingly) convincing.

Kingsley's scenes set the movie alight (like the stunning airport sequence, and of course the return to the villa) and it would be interesting to know just how much of the dialogue comes from the excellent script and how much (if any) was improvised. These more aggressive sections are beautifully contrasted by the 'slower' character building sections, which allow Winstone to display his charm to full affect. A superb movie, well worth repeat viewing...

Sexy Beast is a funny and highly enjoyable crime movie punctuated by some blood curdling violence. The film was directed by Jonathen Glazer, who was responsible for most of the recent amazing Guinness beer adverts.

Ray Winstone is Gal, a retired criminal enjoying retirement in Spain with friends and the woman he loves. But this is shattered by the arrival of a menacing figure from his past in the shape of pyschotic Don Logan (played with evil intensity by Ben Kingsley). Don wants Gal for one last spectacular job and will do just about anything to get him, including threatening Gal's beloved wife.

The story is told at a fast pace, with several surreal interludes but never loses momentum. Ray Winstone puts in another loveable badboy performance that he does so well, but the film is dominated by Kingsley who steals every scene he is in and creates one of the most menacing screen villains in recent memory. The brilliance of the film is that it manages to combine so many disparate elements (thriller, comedy, and a touching love story to say the least) into a cohesive and highly entertaining whole. A real pleasure to watch and a striking, brilliant debut.

Sexy Beast fmovies. 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)

At first, I thought this was just a poor man's "Snatch," with the wild cinematography, dark humor, brutal characters and language....but not as good as that more well-known film. Well, I have really begun to like this film a lot, equally, if not more, than "Snatch."

The more I see "Sexy Beast," the more fascinating it gets, and it was pretty interesting the first time! And, at less than an hour-and-a-half it's even more watchable. It also is a good idea to play this with the English subtitles on, unless you can understand the strong British accents, and can interpret the slang words.

Ben Kingsley, as sociopath "Don Logan," is unbelievably intense and almost has my jaw dropping when watching him in here. "Intense" doesn't even begin describing this guy. Ian McShane is another creepy guy in here as "Teddy." These two guys make the lead characters, two couples, look normal. Those four are retired crooks and their wives, now living the easy life in Spain. Easy, that is, until Logan arrives and wants one of them for another job. The retiree wants to stay that way but Logan is not a man who takes "no" for an answer.

This is one movie you will not forget. Warning: it's rough, crude and strange. Expect a lot of "f" words and "c" words. Also expect an interesting 89 minutes.

..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.