Rating: 
Summary: Creative challenge or pretentious trash?
Review: It's either a terrific movie with these qualities: Hidden very subtle humor. Characters we are challenged to focus on despite the fact they are not physically attractive. Characters we are challenged to care about despite the fact they are morally complex and maybe more odious than otherwise. Characters we are challenged to grasp despite the fact they are multi-dimensional. A story that does not follow the Hollywood 3-act system. A story that challenges us to distinguish the present from the past. A story that challenges us to understand the plot without backstory or exposition. It's either all that. Or it's pretentious trash. Despite Ben Kingsley's good work, I am in the latter camp. I was actively bored for the first hour; not restless; bored. I did not respect the many scenes with people walking "as if they had a purpose" (many such scenes; filler or what?). I found the music abrupt, disruptive, very distracting, and obviously manipulative, telling us precisely how to feel, like the worst Hollywood drivel/dreck. I cared about no one. I disrespect the filmmakers latching on to the kitschy trend of sticking an old Dean Martin Capitol record on closing credits. ("Hey, how about a Dean Martin song to close a British movie?" "Coo-ulll idear. Very cree-ay-tiv.") One example of how bad the movie is: We first see Ben Kingsley in profile, walking "as if he had a purpose," walking in a predatory march, in profile. Fine, I get it. --CUT TO: He is a passive, semi-relaxed passenger in a car. Does this mean he's multi-dimensional (predatory and/or passive) and we should pay attention? Or does it tell me the director and writer were very confused? I wanted to like this movie. I couldn't wait for it to end!
Rating: 
Summary: Why can't they make movies like this in the USA
Review: Who needs preening pretty boys and dumb chicks when you can have drama, and suspense, and real dialogue--god forbid. Do the brits know how to make a movie or what? This movie was touted as the best thing out of britain since "Trainspotting" and I'm all for it. I haven't seen ben kingsley this good in anything--and that includes "Hello Ghandi". Playing a schizo hood, with bad intentions works for the holy man. With dialogue so vile it makes you lagh with nervousness. The opening scene is hilarious--a boulder nearly takes out the protagonist while he's sunning himself on the patio. from there it's a rollercoaster ride into the hell that is this great film. loved the graphic cinematography--reminds one of the late sixties and seventies when films were worth going to to the cinema for.
Rating:
Summary: Sexy Beast - gangster heist film at its finest !
Review: I went to Sexy Beast last night not knowing too much about it except for the fact that Ben Kingsley was in it playing a gangster. As the movie progressed I watched in awe at how good this film actually was and couldn't help still thinking about it the next day. The plot is about an ex-gangster Gal (Ray Winstone) who is retired from his life of crime and wants nothing but to lay in the sun near his pool all day. Until a pyschotic figure from his past Don (Ben Kingsley) comes to his villa to try and persuade him into doing one last job. Although this sounds like your typical gangster plot, it is given a fresh spin by the films director Jonathon Glazer. He gives the crime/heist genre a new approach and really makes you think about the images he throws at you. As the movie moves forward towards the climax Mr. Glazer grabs you by the throat and holds you captive with tension until you sit forward and bite your nails. I couldn't help thinking that Jonathon is the kind of director who could be the offspring of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. The radical editing techniques and cool imagery also add to the atmosphere of this movie. The film is wrapped up in oscar worthy performances by Kingsley & Winstone. Not only am I convinced that Kingsley can play any role now but he easily makes my top 20 actor list now. No villan can be complete without the hero and newcomer Ray Winstone who plays Gal steps up to the plate brilliantly. I see lots of work ahead for these two actors. The only thing I disliked about this movie is that the British accents we're so thick sometimes, that it was hard to follow in places. It gets easier to understand as you get into the characters and by 20 minutes into the movie I was all set. If your looking for a great movie in this sea of summer garbage tread to a good megaplex and find this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghandi... with an attitude!
Review: You've never seen Ben Kingsley like this before and you never will again, which... if you need just one reason to see this film... is why. From the moment Don Logan arrives in Spain, the tension is so thick you can't even cut it with a knife. I simply must applaud the casting of Kingsley for this role. Perhaps the genius of Sexy Beast lies in its defying of stereotypical typecasting. Ben Kingsley is the one person you would least expect to see playing a bald-shaved, rude, vile and downright blunt hardcore gangster, shattering his former career image as a benevolent pacifist in award winning performances such as Ghandi and Schindler's List with a truly unforgettable performance as a badass villain in the process. While Kingsley chews the scenery, it is worth mentioning that veteran Ian McShane (Lovejoy) nearly steals the show as the cold-blooded Teddy, but Kingsley's scenes truly liven this film with his painfully outrageous obscenities. Forget Snatch, Sexy Beast is the best import from the U.K. since Trainspotting.
Rating:
Summary: BEN KINGSLEY IS THE NEW FACE OF EVIL!!!!
Review: SEXY BEAST is the best British gangster flick right now. It joins the ranks of UK mob classics like 1971's GET CARTER w/ a mean Michael Caine and 1981's THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY w/ a meaner Bob Hoskins. 2001's SEXY BEAST has Ben Kingsley playing the meanest, baddest, most despicable ... mobster of them all, Don Logan. Don heads to Spain to drag his old partner outta retirement to do 1 last heist back in London. The great Ray Winstone memorably plays "Gal" Dove, the unlucky bloke trying to enjoy life in his Spain mansion. Man! Kingsley gave me the creeps the moment the back of his bulging bald head 1st appears. He is even scarier than Joe Pesci in GOODFELLAS. The looks of Kingsley's Logan with bald head & veins popping and goatee could make him pass for an older but supermenacing Stone Cold Steve Austin of the WWF! Even the sight of Logan urinating on the rug (in Gal's villa!) gave me goosebumps. He would kill Tony Soprano with his bloody stare! SEXY BEAST is MY Sopranos! This is MY SCARFACE! Give Ben who once played Gandhi an Oscar nomination. Just give him the ... Oscar! And Ray Winstone is sooooooooo terrific here. He is on a roll after his other flicks NIL BY MOUTH & THE WAR ZONE. It was also great to see another fine Brit actor Ian McShane (remember LOVEJOY on cable's A&E?) as a gay mobster w/ 1 sinister sm:)e. I adore his all black business suits and sleek trenchcoat. SEXY BEAST is a job well done by music video director Jonathan Glazer who shows us 1 of the most bizarre (underwater) bank robberies I've ever seen. I won't give much but don't you think Winstone and the robbers should've drained the Turkish bath pool that's next to the bank first? I am still putting this classic in my Top 3 Best Films of 2001 and it is only June. Hope it will be honored @ Oscar time in 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Watching
Review: I managed to see Sexy Beast in England this February. Being a fan of Ben Kingsley I didn't have much expectations other than seeing him on the screen. But the movie was worth watching. The plot is as follows: Gal (Ray Winstone) is retired from villainy, living the lazy life in a villa in Spain with his ex-porn star wife, Deedee (Amanda Redman), when Logan (Ben Kingsley) turns up to recruit him for a bank job in London. He has every intention of refusing, except that Logan is not a man to cross, being pathologically unhinged. The film has a very interesting and good opening scene. I'm not gonna spoil it for you but I'll say that it's between a man and a boulder. The acting is superb. Especially Ben Kingsley is nothing short of amazing. When looked overall, the movie has its flaws but it's worth giving a try. Note: If there was an option I would give it 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: So you think the SOPRANOS are tuff, eh?
Review: First off, I give this one a 5, but the hubby is thinking more three territory -- just so you know. For a gangster flick, this one is shorter on the shooting and the bloodshed than most, but its an absolutely terrifying (and believable) portrayal of the (abnormal) psychology and society of the British Thug set. The film will rattle you long after any episode of the *very* worthy HBO series. The British mobsters seem insidiously scarier and less predictable than our home-grown variety, and you will feel the main character's sense of total vulnerability as his past returns to his present life of fun and sun. There's a lot going on here, suggested in the relationship between erotic ties and future violence, of love and control. Really worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Great performances, but the movie doesn't quite make it
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: beast... not so sexy
Review: The fuss about this film, in my opinion, was largely hype. I don't see much redeeming about this film apart from Ben Kingsley's performance. His brutality is stunning to watch, and although the film was entertaining, it was no classic. As a matter of fact, it has been some time since I watched this film, and I had built it up in my head so much, having read reviews and so on, and when I finally did see it, it was just unappealing and partly unintelligible, apart from a scene with Ben Kingsley in an airplane.
Rating:
Summary: One of Kingsley's best performances
Review: A very original movie on the story of a retired gangster trying to move on from his past. The setting, in Brazil I believe, gives the movie a completely differnet feel than most films of it's genre. Ben Kingsley gives a powerful and unrelentless performance. This movie alone proves him as one of the great actors out today as he steals the movie and turns a great movie into an outstanding one. I've purchased this movie and have watched it three times. It's definately a gem to add to any collection.
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