Revolver Movie Review:


After the critical mauling that greeted Swept Away, Ritchie retreated back to gangsters. But this is slicker and moodier than Lock Stock or Snatch. But while it starts intriguingly, it unravels into incoherent confusion.

Just out of prison, conman Jake Green (Statham) is renewing his antagonism with crime boss Macha (Liotta). But after winning big, his life is in jeopardy--both from an army of goons and a strange blood disease. Rescued by two mysterious loan sharks (Benjamin and Pastore), he begins a limbo-like existence just to survive. Macha sends ace hitman Sorter (Strong) to clean up the mess. But everyone must deal with serious internal demons, and no one's sure who the enemy is.

So far, so good. As the film develops its intriguingly introspective approach, we begin to wonder what's real right along with the characters. This is done in lush cinematic style; Ritchie gives it a gorgeous sheen, edits with an askance wit, and allows the cast to create clever characters. Liotta, especially, acts his socks off, often wearing no socks at all, or much else for that matter.

The first red flags are the borrowed styles--Scorsese's operatic excess and mafioso grit, Tarantino's chaotic violence and bits of (pointless) anime, Fincher's hypnotic questioning of reality. These are signature elements that are clichés if you don't invent them. Then just when the plot really needs to begin coming together, it actually starts diffusing into varying points of view, confusing sequences, conflicted monologues and extended existential angst.

There are some terrific moments and hilariously deranged characters, plus an interesting idea about people being squeezed until they either burst or discover their real essence. But the running gags ($12 bills?) begin to grate. The voiceovers get increasingly murky and corny. The surreality becomes tedious. The repeated rules of the perfect con get deeply annoying. The over-serious tone becomes boring, pretentious and finally so indulgent that we can barely stand another minute of it. And yet it just keeps going. By the time we reach the final bloodbath, we're yawning. And when it arrives at its torturous, harsh ending, we just don't care.



Rich Cline

Leaving prison, Jake Green (Statham) has spent seven years in solitary confinement, preparing himself for he is going to do on the outside. Making more money than he could ever spend, he has become a burden for every single casino owner. None more so than Mr. Macha (Liotta), the reason why Mr Green ended up in prison in the first place. As he comes after Macha, he comes to the attention of Avi (Benjamin) and Zach (Pastore) who make him an offer he can’t refuse.

After making a real impact in the world of cinema with ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’, he lost his way with ‘Swept Away’ but can a return to the crime genre reinvigorate his career?

Unfortunately with ‘Revolver’, Ritchie could be lost forever. This movie is filled with his trademark visual flare and his skill with character development but it is the story that is the major stalling point of the movie. With three years to get over the commercial bomb that was ‘Swept Away’, Ritchie’s decided to return to the world that made his name, the criminal underworld. Those of you expecting fun loving criminals, doggy dealings and twists and turns a plenty will be severely disappointed because the film is a complete mess.

While he was away, he must have been watching Tarantino, David Fincher and his good friend Mathew Vaughn’s ‘Layer Cake’ as this is an amalgamation of all their styles but no coherence. The movie is filled with references to films of his directors but what he has made doesn’t come close to anything that his influences have produced. There is an unneeded animated sequence (Kill Bill), a main character that narrates the story (Layer Cake) and grandiose camera shots and beautifully shot locations (Everything David Fincher has ever done) that try and come together to make a movie but what we end up with is something that just lacks any originality. This goes completely against what he had established in ‘Lock, Stock…’ and ‘Snatch’, turning him from the head of the new wave of British filmmakers, to the scraping at the bottom of the barrel.

The main problem with the movie is that it just doesn’t make sense. The director himself says that you have to be intelligent to understand it but you would have to be a top member of Mensa even to have an inkling of want is going on. As soon as the final third of the movie kicks in, the film looses all sense of narrative and reasoning, as confusion consumes the remainder of the story. The movie supposed to be about playing a con and sizing up you enemy but when no clear enemy emerges in the final reveal, the audience it left deflated and dismayed by what they have witnessed. There are no real answers here, making the film a complete waste of time.

The only things that make the film watchable are the good performances from the cast and how visually stunning the film is. Jason Statham is as good as ever, showing again that he is a diverse actor who is just as strong with dialogue as he is with action. Ray Liotta, who for some reason has far too much mascara on, brings his strong presence to the film. There are also good performances from versatile André Benjamin and the gangster stalwart Vincent Pastore. The visuals of the film also impress, with the whole movie beautifully shot throughout but there are far too many nods to other directors from the same vain.

‘Revolver’ is a complete mess. With a complete lack of any structure and totally confusion taking over during the final third of the film, the movie just manages to anger the audience as no real conclusion is offered. Guy Ritchie really needs to reassess his career if he is going to regain the label as the one of the leading lights of the British film industry because this film turns that light completely off.

(For the visuals and performances only)

Jamie Kelwick

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