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+

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