Director Steven Soderbergh, of "Out of Sight" and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" fame, certainly utilizes an inventive and very personal style in "The Limey." He takes the idea of flashbacks, but changes it around, and actually uses flash forwards to deliver a good deal of the action in this thriller. Unfortunately for me, the thriller aspect of the film did not hold up, because there are no truly likeable characters that we care about, and thus we don't really care how the ending turns out.
The plot of the film is fairly simple. An English ex-con, Wilson, played by Terence Stamp ("The Real McCoy," "Star Wars Episode 1"), travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. He learns that a famous record producer and his daughter's boyfriend, Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), is responsible for her death, and so he sets out to find him and kill him. This seems like a simple set up where we, the audience, root for Wilson to find and kill Valentine to get revenge. However, in his first encounter in a warehouse with some men who have information about Valentine's whereabouts, Wilson needlessly murders all but one of the men there. From this point on, I cared not whether Wilson would ever get revenge because his character was not really established at all before he explodes into his senseless acts of violence. When the film got to its final showdown, I just sat back and watched, not really caring who ended up alive and who died in the gunfire.
The film does have some redeeming qualities. The acting for one, is all around first rate. Terence Stamp, who I don't believe has ever had a starring role in a major film, is very convincing as Wilson. His security guy, played by Luis Guzman ("Out of Sight," "Magnolia," "Boogie Nights," "Carlito's Way") is also perfect for his role and does a very nice job with it. Peter Fonda is good as usual, though he wasn't fully convincing to me in his role as the record producer. Soderbergh's inventive style with the constant editing and use of flash forwards is the most notable aspect of the film.
With "The Limey," Soderbergh has given us a film that is watchable in that it is generally fast paced and well-acted. However, it is not a film that you will talk much about, or even remember for long at all. It is a suitable rent at your video store if you're a fan of Soderbergh or any of the actors for its short, 89 minute run-time, but I cannot recommend it because it is an ultimately forgettable film.
Dave Wilson (Terence Stamp) is a tough English ex-con fresh out of prison who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter s death. He quickly finds ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
DVDS. Two actors best known for their work in the late 1960s, {$Terence Stamp} and {$Peter Fonda}, star in {#The Limey}, a drama in which a recently r...More at DeepDiscount.com
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