The Limey

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.

Low-key thriller/drama about an ex-con seeking revenge on the man that caused his daughters death. That's the surface of this very interesting and fascinating movie from director Soederbergh. There's more than meets the eye, and the patient viewer will be highly rewarded.

This is, in my point of view, a film about all our efforts to review our own lives - i.e. trying to make memories of our past fit in with the reality of today. To try to understand all sides of an event between two people; how actions we take, and decisions we make, makes a difference in the long run in our lives.

Wonderfully directed and edited, this movie is really alive, and shines with various tricks and treats of pure movie magic. The score is perfect, and the acting is great (Stamp in the lead is amazing). The way the film makers intertwine dialogue and voice over is fascinating, and reminds me of the films by French movie makers in the sixties (the French "New Wave").

Obviously not in everyone's taste since this movie is quite demanding in attention and pace, this is still one of the best films ever from director Soederbergh. Rating: 9/10.

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.

When I see Londoners portrayed in Hollywood I almost want to apologise . Being a Londoner myself I cringe when characters speak to Americans in the local London dialect . It's wouldn't happen and we don't all speak like that anyway!

Terrance Stamp plays one of those extremely volatile and dangerous Cockneys who goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for for his daughter's death .

Despite the over exaggerating accent I really liked this . Stamp's character is certainly unhinged and you definitely feel he has nothing to lose . He's out for revenge and nothing is going to stop him

I love the way we see flashbacks to when he was a young man . The flashbacks are taken from Ken Loach's first ever film - Poor Cow and because it's actually stamp as a man in his twenties, it's about as genuine as you are ever going to get .

This is one of Steven Soderbergh's lesser known films and while it's not perfect , it certainly doesn't look out of place with his back catalogue.