L'Anglais

The `revenge story' is a pretty overdone plot device, so when a film comes along that employs this theme and still remains fresh and compelling, it is safe to say that is a truly good film. Steven Soderbergh's `The Limey' is able to do just that. In `The Limey', Terrence Stamp plays Wilson, a career criminal who, upon being released from prison in England, finds out that his estranged daughter has died (or perhaps been murdered) in Los Angeles. Wilson's mission is to find out what happened to her, and prescribe his own brand of justice on the man behind her death.

Soderbergh's direction in `The Limey' is superb. While I enjoy and admire most of his filmography, I was so enamored with his second film, the barely-seen, highly acclaimed `Kafka' for its originality, its daring style and intellectual feel, that films like `Oceans Eleven' and `Erin Brockovich', while quite good, didn't reflect what I felt was to be his true maverick style. Seeing `The Limey', made before `Erin Brockovich' and shortly a couple of years after `Kafka', I was happy to see that he kind of held on to that spirit (for lack of a better expression) for one more film before producing more commercial fare. `The Limey' is told in a very non-linear style, and not even as clearly delineated as say, `Pulp Fiction' was; rather it is flashbacks and real-time events expressed by fluttering scenes and an almost wispy presentation. Soderbergh also employs scenes from one of Terrence Stamp's films from the 1960's for some flashbacks, a thoroughly brilliant and creative tactic.

Terrence Stamp certainly deserves mention for his performance as Wilson. Whether seeing him as General Zod in `Superman II' or as the drag queen Bernadette in `The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert' he is a true badass. Watching him chase after Peter Fonda in `The Limey' was like watching a reincarnation of Yul Brunner in `Westworld'; he just never let up. Anyone who would get in his way were pretty much toast, but it was all so coldly done that it was almost clinical – just by the hard and distant expression on Wilson's face you know that all of these people were incidental and he wouldn't receive any pleasure until he comes face to face with his nemesis; and even then, it's possibly more of a duty than a pleasure.

Check out this film – you won't regret it. However, if you're expecting a film with the same kind of commercial tone as say, `Oceans Eleven' you may be in for a surprise, albeit, in this viewer's opinion, a pleasant one.

--Shelly

I first watched this film when it came out, 1999, and did not find it particularly memorable, apart from Stamp's steely performance, Fonda's sleazy character, and the film's conclusion.

I watched it again on 12 January 2018 and I have to own up to the fact that I must have been less than attentive when I first watched it. This time, I found the acting excellent across the board, the script far more interesting than I remembered, photography highly effective and economical, action sequences quite riveting, and director Steven Soderbergh to be in inspired form, even in his judicious use of flashbacks.

Do not take me wrong, THE LIMEY is not a masterpiece - and never purports to be anything even close. It is just a film well aware of its limitations, and highly credible because of that.

The first time I saw this movie, I hated it. Then, 10 years later, I gave it another try when I saw that Soderbergh was the director. I'm really glad I did.

Some of the scenes are hard to believe. Like the warehouse scene. Why would he walk into that so unprepared? In the real world, they would have just killed him, but then the movie would have only been 20 minutes long. This was the scene that caused me to hate the movie when I first saw it. But this time I overlooked it.

What moved me on the second watching was the subtlety and the sadness in the movie. You feel the sadness of him not being able to be with his daughter as she grew up.

As for Peter Fonda, he's just annoying. The way he's cleaning his teeth with the toothpick, and the annoying conversations he has with his girlfriend are pathetic and painful to watch. But maybe thats the point. Also, the two pool-playing hit men are annoying and Soderbergh attempts to make them interesting is a little over-elaborate. Like the scene where the one guy is talking to trash about all the actors and extras as he watches the movie set.

But the scene with the DEA agent at the end accidentally slipping the file to Wilson was an interesting scene. Wilson's whole speech there was pretty interesting when he tells the DEA agent - I think we're after the same thing. But again, a little hard to believe that the DEA agent is just gonna let him go after Fonda. Like they wouldn't have shown a picture of Wilson to the witness from the warehouse shooting. At which point, the witness would ID Wilson, and Wilson gets arrested. But no, the DEA is gonna let him go after Fonda, and then after all the dead bodies pile up at Big Sur, they're gonna let him fly out of the country. Yeah right. Again, pretty hard to believe.

So, while I think this is a flawed movie from a plot believability standpoint, it still has many interesting and poignant scenes, and I was able to overlook the flaws because I was entertained and riveted throughout the movie.

Wilson (Terence Stamp) gets out of prison and goes to L.A. Eduardo Roel (Luis Guzmán) had sent him news that his daughter Jenny Wilson (Melissa George) is dead. His is convinced that her music producer boyfriend Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda) is responsible. Valentine was involved in a drug deal which he is now trying to hide and presently has a young girlfriend Adhara (Amelia Heinle). Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) was once a famous actress and a mentor to Jenny. Valentine's right hand man Jim Avery (Barry Newman) hires Stacy (Nicky Katt) to kill Wilson.

Soderbergh is trying his disjointed editing style and a bit of shaky camera work. The style is really fascinating for awhile but it becomes more of a gimmick later on. It overwhelms anything happening in the story and takes away some of the tension. Even the dialog becomes secondary. I really like the use of the old movie but even that has diminishing returns. He's done this in the past like in 'Out of Sight' but it wasn't quite as pervasive. Terence Stamp has terrific menace. He's able to maintain the tension and there is a nice payoff at the end.

Soderbergh is a really odd director. His movies have run the gamut from the wacky, self indulgent surrealism of 'Schizopolis' to the pandering, sell-out mediocrity of 'Ellen Brockovich'. He's really hard to get a handle on. 'Out Of Sight' was stylish with an outstanding cast but left me cold. 'Traffic' featured a handful of great performances, most notably Benicio Del Toro's, but was overall simplistic, unconvincing and cliched. For my money his strongest achievements to date have been his overlooked noir-ish 'Underneath', and this, his involving revenge drama 'The Limey'.

Terrence Stamp, a fine actor who has appeared in more than his fair share of bad movies, really takes this role and runs with it. He radiates dignity and power as Wilson, the English career criminal out to avenge the death of his estranged daughter. My only problem with his performance, and the movie as a whole, is his Cockney accent, which borders on caricature. If you can get over that hurdle you'll be impressed by the depth of his performance.

Peter Fonda, who has never impressed me much as an actor in the past (not even his much lauded role in the overrated 'Ulee's Gold'), is also fine as the sleazy record producer who Wilson suspects of wrongdoing. Stamp and Fonda obviously relish playing these characters, and their chemistry together is the cornerstone of the movie. Both actors are supported by an impressive array of old and new faces - including a surprisingly effective Lesley Anne Warren (her best since 'Cop'), the always watchable Luis Guzman ('Boogie Nights', 'Carlito's Way', etc.), blasts from the pasts Barry Newman (cult classic 'Vanishing Point') and Joe Dallessandro (former Warhol superstar), and future star in the making Nicky Katt ('Strange Days', 'SubUrbia').

Soderbergh cleverly uses footage from Ken Loach's kitchen sink drama 'Poor Cow' for flashbacks, and plays upon Stamp and Fonda's 60s screen personas, but the film is no exercise in mere nostalgia. 'The Limey' is a rarity in Hollywood these days - an intelligent, thoughtful, well crafted and acted adult movie. I liked it a lot.