Subtle he is not. As gangster Don Logan, Ben Kingsley is a screaming, viscious, angry man who won’t take no for an answer. Many compliments have been levied upon Mr. Kingsley, most famous for playing Gandhi and Schindler’s accountant. Unfortunately, its his over the top performance that makes this only a half worthwhile movie. I suspect that it is in deference to Kingsley, a wonderful actor, playing against type that garnered such praise. But the movie is far better in the scenes without him. He is more of a pest than a frightening villain, not very complex, rather just pissed off.

Gal Dove (Ray Winstone) is a retired criminal who lives in a beautiful home on the coast of Spain, with his wife DeeDee (Amanda Redmen) who is also retired from a less than respectable career. Gal is haunted by a weird demon in his dreams. While lying outside working on his tan, a boulder from the hillside misses Gal by an inch and lands in his pool. These are a foreshadowing of the arrival of Don, the aforementioned relentless gangster who insists, to put it mildly, that Gal join him in London for one last heist. The heist is being engineered by Ted (Ian McShane), who has a relationship, perhaps sexual, with the target bank’s owner Harry (James Fox).

Director Jonathan Glazer’s music video roots are evident in the style and tone, both its fast paced editing and techno style rhythms. At just under an hour and a half, it is never boring, but unlike many contemporary films, which start out well than bog down towards the end, Sexy Beast is the opposite. The story picks up once the heist is underway when the relationship between Don and Gal runs parallel to the robbery. Still, there is only so much one can take of watching Ben Kingsley scream at everyone in the room. Not only that, Gal and his friend Aitch (Cavan Kendall) are retired gangsters, but they can’t stand up to him at all? Don Corleone must be rolling in his grave. Nevertheless, Winstone provides a very sincere performance. You really believe that he both loves his wife and wants out of the crime industry for good.

The lack of subtlety, both in the symbolism and Kingsley’s performance are what keeps this from being a recommendable movie. The best villains and/or antagonists in film are the ones that can show us what they are thinking rather than telling the audience, or in this case, berating us. Two examples are Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, and perhaps the most famous villain in movie history, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter It was the look on their face, not the volume of their voice that frightened us. Sure, they both committed their acts of savagery, but their demeanor suggested a sharp contrast and intelligence that Kingsley’s cartoonish Logan does not have. Your are engaged with Hopkins and Hackman, wanting to see what they do next while fearful of the outcome. With Kingsley, you just hope he goes away soon.

Whats most interesting, and disappointing, is that the most intimidating villain who has the subtle attributes is Ted. He can strike fear into both the characters and audience, with a stare as well as a gun. His lack of screen time is unfortunate, but picks up towards the more enjoyable latter third of the movie. Logan’s paranoid schizophrenia serves as the disease/impairment of the year. Russell Crowe’s John Nash had it in Beautiful Mind, now we have Logan, the bad cop to the oh-so-lovable Nash. Maybe if Hackman had played more of a psychopath in Royal Tenenbaums instead of just an asshole, he would have commanded an Oscar nomination.

Rating: **