Say hello to the other Ben Kingsley

The other night I was still tossing and turning at 1:30 a.m., as is often the case, so I grabbed the remote. The chance of finding something decent to watch at that hour is right up there with winning it all at Powerball, but this time I got lucky: Sexy Beast was on one of the HBO channels.

This is the movie to watch if you always think of Gandhi whenever you think of Ben Kingsley. His performance here is nothing less than anti-Gandhi — utterly crude, ruthless and intimidating. I don’t know if he and costar Ray Winstone were friends off the set, but if they never spoke again I can understand why.

Winstone plays soft-in-the-middle ex-criminal “Gal” Dove, who is trying to enjoy his retirement in sunny Spain. Kingsley is the lean, lethal and certifiable Don Logan, who wishes to enlist Gal for a risky bank heist back in London. Let’s just say Don is not the sort of man who takes no for an answer.

This is a great movie, with high tension throughout, but be warned that it’s disturbing in so many ways you definitely won’t want to watch it with the kids. As a late-night rental — or a serendipitous cable choice — Dave-Bob says check it out.