Fair dealing/fair use
Michael Caine was once quoted as saying he appeared in the gritty crime film “Get Carter”as an antithesis to the jokey caper “The Italian Job”. But to sufficiently compare Get Carter and Sexy Beast, one has to first understand the context to which they were made. In the 1990s and 2000s, British culture saw a rise in the appreciation of ‘mob-culture’. Images of the 1960s Michael Caine and profiles of the septuagenarian ex-gangster ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser became typical fare in men’s monthly magazines such as Loaded and GQ; and the gangland films of more optimistic eras, from Get Carter to The Long Good Friday, were canonised as genre classics by the taste-makers of ‘lad’ culture”. Sexy Beast was produced at the height of this resurgence, with Get Carter the representation of that bygone era.
Jonathan Glazer’s ultra-stylish offering begins with ex-criminal Gary ‘Gal’ Dove (Ray Winstone) blissfully enjoying retirement with his ex-porn star wife DeeDee (Amanda Redman). Gal bakes in the sun, sizeable gut hanging over his Speedos, lounging by the pool at his isolated Spanish villa. He is utterly relaxed at the prospect of finally living in a sunny world, far away from the cold life of a career criminal in London. Seeking to cool down, Gal is about to take a dip into the pool, when a huge boulder comes loose from the hill above, bounces down the slope, misses him by few inches, and crashes into the pool. This unforeseen intrusion upon Gal’s fresh, placid life only happens to be a sample of more evil that’s about to intrude. Thus an apparently simple crime narrative commences……………….
Gal is a retired safe-cracker, whose initial laid-back monologue conveys his absolute love for his wife. The couple’s life is further enriched by the constant presence of friend/former associate Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and his lover Jackie (Julianne White). They obviously feel insecure yet they are good at hiding behind the facade of normalcy, enjoying the permanent suntan and dining at local restaurants (I’ll ‘ave the Calamaaaaaari). However, Gal’s new life is about to be flattened by a boulder of sorts, bearing the name Don Logan (Ben Kingsley). Feelings of utmost terror strike Gal and others’ eyes when the dreaded Cockney gangster’s name is first uttered. Don Logan will be arriving next day to discuss about a ‘job’ with Gal. Yet even before the bald-headed, dangerously unpredictable Don enters the frame, one thing is clear from Gal’s painful expression : You don’t/can’t say ‘No’ to Don.
When Kingsley’s unsmiling, borderline psychotic, & relentlessly abusive Don arrives, the narrative’s hugely attractive showdown begins. Immediately after this entry, Don demands Gal to fly back to England and take part in an elaborate heist orchestrated by formidable crime lord Teddy Bess (Ian McShane). Gal gathers his nerve to say no to the job. Hence, Don decides to stay a couple of days to wear down Gal with his bullying and inventive, rapid-fire verbal abuse. When Gal remains stubborn, Don plays cruel head-games, hurling insults at wife DeeDee, Aitch, and Jackie (with whom he previously had a sexual relationship). Things go south, when Don’s terrifying ragings prompts the untapped violence to arise out of Gal and his cohorts.
It is not surprising that Sexy Beast is mostly remembered & referenced by Ben Kingsley’s live-wire performance. Written by Louis Melles and David Scinto, the character of Don, offset by sharp sense of dark humour, is nothing short of riveting. Kingsley plays the dreaded gangster as a man incapable of reason. Two vignettes stand-out in his brief yet very memorable outing : the whole airport scene; and when Don carries a conversation with himself while looking at the mirror and shaving. On both occasions, despite the cruel nature of the action, it’s difficult not to laugh at the character’s brash uninhibited nature. Now of course, Kingsley’s attention-grabbing presence wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the angst-ridden looks of co-star Ray Winstone. He’s often played intimidating, brutal figures himself ; the most memorable are his presence in Nil by Mouth (1997) and The War Zone (1999). But here, Winstone’s Gal extracts enough sympathy as a guy who just wants to be left alone with his gel & spend his ill-gotten riches through an unhurried, simple life. The fear and detestation he expresses in Don’s presence is palpable and well-grounded. Adding further to the narrative’s tone is Ian MacShane’s menacingly subtle villainy as the downright monstrous gang leader.
Of course, the pitch-perfect performance and unfaltering attention to character sketches says a lot about director Glazer’s ingenuous artistry. While Mellis & Scinto’s script is weirdly nuanced, Glazer’s heedful vision is effective enough to make the jump in timelines and stream of unrelenting robust language work very much to the film’s benefit. Many viewers felt that the film’s third act involving the underwater heist is very brief and bit of a letdown. But the hurried execution of the bizarre heist seems deliberate, since Glazer’s focus mostly lies on the headstrong and ignorant nature of the characters. Furthermore, the emotional momentum established through Gal’s predicament finely carries the robbery sequence (the scene is also filled with minor moments of black humour). And within a pared down running time of 88 minutes, the director offers a more exacting character study rather than a traditional crime narrative, which usually centres around the actual heist.
In the initial viewing of Sexy Beast, the sheer force of Kingsley’s purposely unhinged Don Logan would arrest our whole attention. But the later viewings would convey Glazer’s shrewd directorial touches. The way he builds up the film’s core action through elaborate, unwinding, and slightly improvised dialogues adds up a lot of grim fascination (in the words of Don, it’s all about ‘preparation, preparation, preparation’). Unlike Guy Richie, Glazer employed the little substance available in the narrative to dictate his style (not vice-versa). Glazer’s penchant for impressionistic lighting and enticing widescreen shots are to the fore, & the tableaux of sunny Spain in the first-half perfectly contradicts the later portions’ depressing, wet, and cramped interiors of London. Even the spatial design differs, as the earlier imaginative widescreen shots provide a large breathable space for Gal, the man desiring for the detachment from his past. More interesting is the inclusion of subtext – in a dream sequence- providing an Uzi-gun-wielding hare monster, as if Satan himself is testing Gal’s stoic stance against life of criminality. The plot of Sexy Beast might be slight or lean, but the unforgettable central trio of characters and flawlessly original visual flourishes turns it into a raw and unflinching look at the dark side of the criminal underworld, and its characters are complex and flawed, rather than simple caricatures. Overall, “Sexy Beast” is a highly recommended film for fans of crime dramas and character-driven stories. It is a tense and compelling film that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
© DJM 2026
