Sexy Beast

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.

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.

OK, I've liked Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone and Ian McShane in most of the movies in which I've seen them, but Jonathan Glazer's "Sexy Beast" is too weird. There have been so many retired-criminals-go-in-for-one-last-shot movies that they've become a blur. I will admit that "Sexy Beast" has some neat scenes -- namely the boulder -- but I didn't like it otherwise. I guess that I'd taken to Guy Ritchie's movies so much that I preferred for crime-themed movies to have a very comedic tone. You might like this movie, especially Kingsley's sociopathic thug (a totally different role from Gandhi), but I didn't find anything appealing about the movie. Could someone please explain what that thing that looked like a monster was supposed to be?

It's really not surprising to find out that the director of this drivel made his name in the land of TV commercials. The movie never really seems to be one whole, but rather is made up of several loosely related 'scenes' which attempt to move the plot along. Not that there is much of a plot to begin with. The movie opens with a send-up of a Kahlua commercial with a jolly fat guy (Gal) sunning himself in the Mediterranean sun. You understand that he is relaxed and fully content with his inactivity and would be very happy to remain so for the rest of his retirement. This is the last time you understand ANYTHING in this movie. There's the cliched recruitment scene (think "Tastes Great! Less Filling!"), a neither here nor there love triangle "mess" that never really goes anywhere except maybe sending you to sleep, and finally an inane bank robbery which still doesn't explain why Gal simply had to be involved. Don't just suspend your disbelief at the "action" in this movie, leave it at home. The less you think while watching this movie, the better.

The only thing good about this movie is that it is short. While people in real life may may talk in an incomprehensible manner, when they are portrayed on screen, there should be some effort to communicate to the audience. I missed the point completely, and why it is called "Sexy Beast" I will never know.

I first thing I noticed about SEXY BEAST was that Ray Winstone`s character is called Gal . I actually know someone called Gal in real life , she`s an Israeli so I wondered why the anti hero in this film has an Israeli girls name when he`s a bloke from London ! I was futher confused why SEXY BEAST has several surreal sequences like a demon tooled up with an uzi approaching Gal`s dinner table . No doubt more pretentious reviewers will discuss the meaning behind these scenes but that`s not really the point - the scenes are distracting and don`t add anything . But my abiding memory of SEXY BEAST is the character interaction between Gal and Don Logan , it`s like something out of THE FAST SHOW , can`t you just imagine Simon Day or Paul Whitehouse playing a retired gangster working in a hotel as a waiter ? " Tea or coffee you f***in` c*** , the continental or english breakfast you f***in` c*** , cash or cheque you f***in` c*** , I f***ed your wife you f***in` c*** It does have its good points though . Winstone is a fairly limited actor but he`s made a career out of playing rough diamond geezers something he excels at . Ben Kingsley is excellent as Logan , a role for which he received an Oscar nod , but perhaps the best performance - Certainly the most understated - is Ian McShane as Teddy Bass . But for the most part I found SEXY BEAST ( Why`s the film called that ?) to be disappointing . Maybe I was expecting something like ESSEX BOYS or THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY with a Spanish setting , but what I got was something similar to PERFORMANCE

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...

At first I was a bit disappointed after watching the film, due to the misleading trailer and the expectations I had. Sexy Beast is at it's core a romance, not a comedy and definitely not an action flick. It's all about Gal trying to protect his life and his marriage. After finishing a nine years stretch courtesy of Her Majesty's prison, Gal has had enough of a life of "Crime and Punishment" and settles down at the Spanish Riviera with his beloved ex-pornstar wife and another couple. Together with a local Spanish boy who helps Gal around the house they seems like a family, living a peaceful and happy life far from dreary England and their equally dreary past. Enter psychotic Don Logan, who tries to "persuade" Gal to do one last job. I think the plot can be interpreted symbolically: the boulder crashing into Gal's pool, missing him just by a few inches yet shattering the two hearts pattern on the pool's basin, symbolizes the arrival of Logan. Logan is just as menacing, deadly and uncontrollable as nature, endangering the love between Gal and his wife DeeDee. He's a part of Gal's criminal past coming to haunt him, the violent and antisocial part of himself he's been suppressing so long (notice how meek Gal is?), Gal's "Id". Logan taunts Gal what a wuss he has become, how fat and lazy he's become, how low he has sunk by marrying an ex-pornstar, that he deserted Logan (some of Gal's own thoughts deep down?). He's trying to snatch Gal away from DeeDee, he doesn't want him to be happy (Gal: "I'm happy now". Logan, shouting: "I won't let you be happy, why should I!"). Interestingly enough, as soon as Logan arrives at Gal's villa, the Spanish boy leaves; so the boy could be interpreted as Gal's innocent and peaceful side. SPOILER AHEAD! So when Logan beats down the kid (i.e. Gal's evil side is gaining upperhand over his good side) it's DeeDee that makes the final decision and saves their marriage by killing her rival for Gal's soul (in between Logan's vitriolic rants he tells Gal he loves him). Everyone partakes in Logan's murder except for Gal and the boy; meaning that all of Gal's friends want to get rid of that part of him? In essence it's all about Gal's psychomachia, i.e. having to take sides: either going back to a life of crime and violence, or saving his marriage and his happiness. On that level, it was quite enjoyable. Ben Kingsley portrays Logan disturbingly menacing (the mirror scene!), Ian McShane as kingpin Teddy Bass is just as believable (no Love nor Joy...) and Ray Winstone reminded me of an English-version of James Gandolfini.

This film was absolutely awful. Let me tell you why. The first 1/5 of the film is spent introducing the first four characters (two couples) - and this must have been on a tight budget, because they only used a couple of sets - one by the pool, the other in the restaurant. The acting was really poor - and the characters even less believable. Let me elaborate.... lets take Ray Winstone - what a poor choice of lead character. He neither comes across believable, nor does he have an ounce of menace about him - I mean let's be serious - is he your idea of a big time gangster in retirement? PLEASE... The problem with this film, is that it stars Ben Kingsley, who some people would give 10/10 even if the production was absolute rubbish. Towards the end of the first fifth of this film ,we have some more poor acting, when Aitch and Jackie approach the dinner table, seeming to come across as they've seen a ghost - trembling with fear because they've picked up a phone call from the brutal(not) Don Logan (Kingsley). The acting at this point is quite pitiful and overdone. When you see Ben Kingsley for the first time, you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd just starved himself for an upcoming role in Ghandi. I mean the man is scrawny, aged, and has no presence. His overacting showed no bounds where in the next 3/5's of the film, he kept pestering the lead character agree to a 'job'... Oh and the big surprise was, he had slept with Aitch's wife... woo hoo Big deal ! I can't be bothered to write anymore about this film, except to say that it was an anti climatic bore of an excuse for a director to put reel to camera and produce this junk. It just wasn't convincing and the storyline was pants. ps. and what's all that underwater drilling rubbish about... Oh god this is depressing - don't watch it, even on DVD or 19th re-run, unless you're a Kingsley fanboy. ALSO.. WHAT'S WITH THE BUNNY! Donnie Darko Ripoff.