zacknabo
The Limey a juicy revenge flick to really sink your teeth into. This at the tell end of the '90s when Soderbergh still a young man at his innovative best, willing to try things structurally that he would eventually back away from in his post '90s work (with of course a few exceptions). Wilson's (Terence Stamp) daughter Jenny is dead. Her last known lover was Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), a nefarious music "promoter" who cashed in on the style, sound and myth of 1960's zeitgeist, who is known to be connected with shady businesses and equally shady characters. Now, Wilson, estranged father, lifetime criminal, freshly out of prison, is on a mission to find out why his daughter was killed, then possibly take out the man whom he believes murdered her. The intense tale of revenge is set against the backdrop of high-end Hollywood Hills enclaves, the scenic beauty of Big Sur and the more gritty elements of Los Angeles adding texture. Wilson tries to accomplish this vengeance with the help of his daughter's friends: One, an aloof chef who she met in acting class, Eduardo (Luiz Guzman). Guzman's character in particular allows for the creation of a tête-à-tête buddy movie that creates heart, humor and an unexpected element in a film that belies the fact that it is not your run of the mill revenge film, which ends up being more of an existential quest than the shoot'em up tropes of the genre. DP Ed Lachman does a wonderful job with the long takes. In which he keeps most of the violence at a distance, which is unusual for the genre, but brings more mystery, intensity and uniqueness to the film. The first scene of ultra-violence is when Soderbergh and Lachman keep the camera across the street from a warehouse where Valentine's cohorts work. We watch Wilson briskly walk back to the building in which he just had his a** beat and was thrown to the curb, but all we hear are screams, the ringing of gunshots, and a few flashes of gun blasts until finally a young man comes running out toward the camera, into the foreground and past the camera, half-chased by a double gun toting Wilson (face covered in blood splatter) screaming in his intense cockney accent, "You tell'im I'm coming! You tell'im I'm f*****g coming!!!" The detached long shot works just as well in another famous scene at Valentine's part in a posh mansion that overlooks the canyons. In the foreground Valentine mingles, safe, untouchable, but through the glass the viewer begins to see what Valentine sees, Wilson throwing a 400lb bodyguard over the railing into the canyon to his demise.The disjointed storytelling, the non-linear elements, the displacement of matching dialogue with scenes in which they don't belong, the obscuring of timelines and the way Soderbergh obscures the framing of certain scenes is an inventive way to keep the audience on their toes. I know it is the opinion of some that this is more of a literary device and not a filmic style device…but those folks are wrong. Soderbergh and writer Lem Dobbs work well in dipping back to the past '50s and '60 American and English noirs and New Wave crime dramas as well as French New Wave aesthetics for inspiration while making something fresh and new that is all their own, exploding with vital energy. Soderbergh also made casting decisions (Stamp and Fonda) that in themselves are aware and self-referential in themselves, from the aura, myths and careers of Stamp and Fonda have been associated with. Soderbergh even makes a genius choice to show flashbacks of Wilson that are actually vintage footage of Terence Stamp playing a character in Ken Loach's 1967 debut Poor Cow. These techniques had to be fresh in 1999 as it is still fresh today. Stamp is at his witty, faux-standoffish best (reminiscent of Stephen Frear's The Hit), with a quick fire half intelligible parlance that is simply perfect for the idiosyncrasies of this film. Guzman proves why he is maybe the most talented and versatile Latino actors we have working in America today. On the other hand Peter Fonda cannot act; he never could. All of that talent was drained by his father and his sister, but in the context of what was needed from his character in The Limey, it works, and is charming, much in the way a singer who doesn't have a "naturally great" singing voice or makes a habit of not singing in key, i.e., Lou Reed is charming and ultimately works. And as the sometimes subdued, but always neurotic, sun baked, Southern Cal ex-hippie, Peter Fonda could not have been a finer choice.The Limey is just different. Rememberances of an indie culture that has changed. Because it isn't often that there is a revenge-laden crime thriller that on the surface should be about drugs, guns, sex with beautiful women and straightforward Charles Bronson revenge that winds up being about what is truly important in a person's life: family, learning from one's experiences. As Stamp says, "If prison has taught me one thing it is how to bide my time…bide my time so I can think clearly and make the right decision." This is one of the most poignant soliloquies in The Limey. But I believe Roger Ebert said it best in his 1999 review, this film is really about "retirement."
daggersineyes
I'm getting to the point now where I'm distrusting the ratings on this site because so many movies with above 7 ratings turn out to be boring pretentious tripe. Honestly, there was nothing in this movie that redeemed it. The acting was almost non-existent, the editing was clumsy and bizarre (possibly in some mis-guided attempt to appear "artsy") and the plot..... well there really wasn't one. There was certainly no action, no suspense, no thrills, no warmth, no likable characters, no intrigue, no message, no interesting dialogue, no gripping relationships or drama .... just a lot of repetition of boring scenes (for what purpose is beyond me), blank stares for long periods of time (possibly an attempt to build drama but all it did was build frustration with how awful the film was) and lots of pointless badly written wooden conversation between characters. I got just over half way through and felt proud of myself for having suffered so long but at that point I started skipping bits of the film. I started carefully, only skipping small sections and soon realised I could easily jump several minutes at a time and miss nothing at all. Finally made a huge skip to the last 10 mins or so. YAY! I thought, a bit of action! Even tho I couldn't care less what happened to anyone. I was just hoping for relief to the tedious boredom. But my hope was short-lived and actually changed to anger because the ending made not one bit of sense in the context of the rest of the movie. It was lame and silly. I fail to see how anyone can give this a score above 2. I might have to start watching movies rated below 5 and maybe I'll have better luck. So dear reviewers, slow, boring and badly written/acted/shot/edited/produced does NOT equal meaningful and artsy. It just equals a waste of everyone's time. Conclusion: Don't' bother. Watch In Bruges instead. That's one of the few movies with a decent rating that actually deserves it.
vostf
When I sat to enjoy The Limey I was anticipating Terence Stamp's steel-cold stare and Cliff Martinez's score. I was not disappointed, both bring class to this low profile formulaic story of a little mad father out to get the big bad man responsible for the death of his loved one(s).Now I was not the least impressed by Soderbergh's experimental storytelling. Editing is surely creative here. I understand that scrapping a whole backstory about hit men may well have forced it. But I do feel the visual rhythm runs against the whole noir atmosphere. Basically emotion rises from within a shot, action from editing, hence too much editing here prevents emotion (and tension) to settle.In the end you feel Terence Stamp was wasted in an average story where an artsy director favoured style over substance. Soderbergh's approach is actually interesting, only it turns out counter-productive.
