No means yes (Sexy Beast (DVD))

Member Name: Belgian999

Product:	Sexy Beast (DVD)
Date:	08/04/02 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ben Kingsley is absolutely outstanding, more than your average gansgster flick

Disadvantages: Bit slow to start

I’ve always liked films featuring Ray Winstone – he displayed outstanding talent in ‘Scum’, and has gone on to become one of the most respected British actors of his generation with starring roles in often unheralded films such as ‘Nil By Mouth’ and ‘Love, Honour and Obey’. The one criticism that is levelled at him is that he is quite easily typecast, but then his accent, build and general demeanour make Winstone the ideal man to play a London gangster.

I can’t say what he might be thinking, but the recent series of adverts for Holsten Pils and the way he plays his character in ‘Sexy Beast’ gave me the impression that Winstone has accepted this and is concentrating on doing what he is good at. He can play the role of an East End wideboy gangster to perfection, and as far as I am concerned that’s no bad thing! That said, I was expected bad language, guns, blood and violence, but I definitely was not prepared for a screen full of the portly man himself, clad in nothing but suncream and a skimpy pair of Speedos.

Winstone plays Gary ‘Gal’ Dove, a one-time top gangster who used to work for an unspecified firm somewhere in the dark heart of London. Except now he’s officially retired, and living the life of Reilly in that haven for expats, the Costa del Sol. He has a good-looking wife (who has been round the block a bit, in more ways than one), a lovely villa in the countryside, and spends his days with a couple of friends from back home, lying in the sun and enjoying the good life.

However, this sun-drenched idyll is shattered by a brief phone call – Don Logan is coming to visit. He wants Gal to come out of retirement one last time, to participate in the heist of the decade, and he won’t leave without his man. Violence, blackmail, humiliation and intimidation are all part of his armoury and he incessantly batters away at Gal’s negative att
itude in an attempt to drag him back home. This is when a previously pedestrian film really starts to pick up, as some familiar faces make an appearance, in very unfamiliar surroundings. Logan turns out to be a feared name from Gal’s violent past in London, but the role of this wiry, aggressive character is beautifully played by an excellent Ben Kingsley. Yes, the one who played Gandhi!

James Fox hams it up wonderfully as Harry, the patriarch of one of the most exclusive and closely-guarded banks in London, while Ian McShane gets all nasty as Teddy Bass, one of the most powerful men in the criminal fraternity. He does a good job of lurking in shadows and looking menacing, but I just couldn’t help expecting Tinker and Eric to pop out from behind an antique sideboard and start calling him Lovejoy. And you thought Ray Winstone was hamstrung by being typecast...

Winstone is excellent, as ever – this time he is not just a hard man, but one who has gone a bit soft after some time out of the spotlight. He seems genuinely afraid of Logan and Bass, and does not relish any sort of return to the life he has left behind. A lot is made of what is going on inside his head, as he worries about his wife, his future, and some unspecified beast haunts his dreams and seems to presage imminent death. Is Logan the personification of that beast? Well, Ben Kingsley is without question the highlight of the movie though, he really does steal every scene that he is in. Shaven-headed and foul-mouthed, he plays a role that is so different to anything I ever expected to see him in, but after a short while it seems that this is the only character you have ever seen him play. Superb.

This is a great gangster film, but it is more than just that – it’s a comedy, but it is violent and it makes you think. There are a couple of good twists and turns and the story covers topics that have been the subject of any number of recent British badboy ga
ngster flicks, but just in a slightly different way. There is violence, but it seems understated – the bank robbery itself is not the expected bloodbath, but the events surrounding it are far more sinister. Maybe it’s because gunfire and death on a large scale make you somehow immune to the reality of it, but the smaller scale fighting here seems more, well, real, as it is the culmination of a prolonged psychological battle between two men. That sounds a bit deep, but watch the film, and you’ll see what I mean...

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