Review: Revolver


Jason Statham plays a recently released con man looking for revenge against the casino owner (Ray Liotta, scariest man alive) who sent him to prison. He spent his prison time learning master cons from two other prisoners in cells on either side of his. However, after a public humiliation, Liotta is murderously pissed at Statham, putting a hit out on him. He encounters two loan sharks (Andre Benjamin and Vincent Pastore), who tell him he has a fatal disease that will kill him in a matter of days. If he agrees to work for them and give all of his money over to them, they’ll keep him from being bumped off. And so it begins. Francesca Annis and Mark Strong play a couple of underworld characters, the former flamboyant, the latter cool as ice.

 

This 2005 Guy Ritchie (“Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”) flop gets no love from…well, anyone really. However, despite not being a fan of Ritchie’s, I found this a lot easier to follow than I had been led to believe (especially since I was watching the supposedly more confusing shorter version of the film), and really quite watchable actually. Bear in mind, though, that I thoroughly enjoyed “Smokin’ Aces” and “Shoot ‘em Up”, so your cinematic sensibilities may be wildly different from mine. Those films are a good comparison actually, because this one seems like Ritchie, if not parodying gangster flicks, is at least having a bit of a lark. It’s over the top, silly, and indulgent in style. It’s only mildly pretentious, with those quotes at the beginning being a bit of a wank. My only true criticism here is that the conclusion is weak, it makes Jason Statham’s character look foolish for not seeing it a mile away. Then again, I myself didn’t predict it so perhaps I should shut the hell up.

 

A very orange Ray Liotta walks off with the whole thing in one of his better post-career turns as a rather pathetic gangster. Statham is Statham, but here that’s appropriate. Vincent Pastore is quite good also, and Andre Benjamin is surprisingly not out of place. Interestingly emotionless performance from Mark Strong as an efficient hitman who looks like an accountant.

 

No, not sure why the critics were turned off by this one, which was in the can in 2005, but not released in the US until 2007 after thudding elsewhere on original release. It’s nothing earth shattering (or even ‘good’), but I found it a pretty easy watch, and fun at times. The screenplay is by the director from a story by Luc Besson (“The Professional”, “The Fifth Element”), something that should tell you an awful lot about what to expect, really.

 

Rating: C+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more