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Revolver
What the feck was all that about? Never in my life have I come out of the cinema with less of an idea of what I'm supposed to think happened. Whatever Guy Ritchie is smoking, it's not good for him at all.
Revolver is, I suppose, courageous. It's also hugely disappointing. Visually and stylistically, it's well up to the standards of Lock Stock and Snatch, but it's not nearly funny enough and the lunacy of the ending destroys the enjoyment. Destined for the bargain bin, I'm afraid. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: Shooting, drug references, brief anonymous boobs. To enjoy this film you should: leave half way through.
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Your commentsThe comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!
The film started to progress into a good re-hash of the lock-stock movie and then for some reason visited the local hospital and got labotomised.
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Revolver is, according to Guy Ritchie in a recent interview, a return to his Lock Stock roots - gangster territory.
Jason Statham, promoted to the lead role this time, plays Jake Green, a con-artist emerging from a seven year stretch
in jail. Things run in familiar fashion for a while, with guns, money and stylish cinematography, but with far less humour
than we're used to and insufficiently rich characters, which is enough to knock it down to a 3/5 or 4/5 rating.
But as the film rolls on, it drifts further
and further from sanity, with the last half hour being completely incomprehensible. Without giving anything away
(not that it would help), the story simply doesn't finish. The more surreal it gets, the more we're expecting an explanation
and so the more disappointing it is when none surfaces. There aren't even any credits - the screen goes black, music
plays and the cinema lights come up. Audience members look at each other bemused, some wait a minute or two in the vain
hope that there will be another scene to make sense of it all, eventually they all give up and traipse out wondering what
particular illegal substance Guy Ritchie was using when he signed the movie off as complete.
Now don't get me wrong - I was enjoying the movie until it went mental. Statham is great at the cool-under-pressure thing
and Ray Liotta makes an effective casino boss. Even Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000, singer in Outkast) is pretty good
and Mark Strong is terrific as an unorthodox hitman. The cinematography is superb, with many novel and visually impressive
sequences,
but there are too many flaws. Big Brit Stephen Marcus (Nick the Greek in Lock Stock) has a few lines, all of which are
dubbed inexpertly, so instead of listening to what he's saying, the viewer is wondering where the hell that American
voice is coming from, because it's sure as shit not coming from the mouth of that actor. Similarly, in the middle of the
movie, some of the characters become animations, for no apparent reason and with far more of a "sore thumb" feel than
the same technique garnered in Kill Bill. But these details pale into
insignificance compared to the impenetrable plot. I've spent the last hour reading other viewers' opinions on the plot
and have come to the conclusion that there is no theory that fits the whole film. There are several potential explanations
that were hinted at during the movie, but all of them are inconsistent with one or more details elsewhere, and there are
bizarre details that seem irrelevant - look out for the twelve dollar bills and the chalk numbers on the bags - what's
that all about? Watching Revolver is like being the designated driver, watching your mates get smashed off their tits.
It starts off with coherent and witty repartee, but as the night goes on, the party slowly disintegrates, banging on
about random bollocks and flipping from one rant to another without making any sense along the way. Each mashed participant
is talking perfect sense in their own head, but to the observer it's inconsequential and meaningless tosh. Revolver loves
you, it does, no really, it's your best mate and if you don't understand well then you're shtoopid and it'll take you all
on with one hand tied behind its back and where's the kebab van? It shagged your missus, it did. She fecking loved it.
