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Revolver (2005)
Director: Guy Ritchie
Movie review
From Time Out New York
A compost heap of cockney-gangster clichés and gratuitous chaos, Guy Ritchie’s transplant of his signature tough-guy posturing into the twilight zone starts out like a bid to become the U.K.’s Takashi Miike and simply winds up being a convoluted dead-end turd. The fact that this 2005 stinker is finally washing up on our shores suggests a diplomatic affront; apparently, the Brits are still bitter about the Boston Tea Party and how we bullied Blair into war, so they’re sending us the bottom of their cinematic barrel. We’re officially sorry, gents. You can stop now.
We know that one Mr. Green (Statham, modeling a lovely roadkill toupee) is eager to dish out payback to the mobster (Liotta) who sent him up the river. And it’s a safe bet that a dapper loan shark (Benjamin) and his associate (Pastore) are somehow integral to that plan…assuming they actually exist. The surprising thing is that Ritchie expects us to take all this so seriously, filling Statham’s obnoxiously omnipresent voiceovers with metaphysical chess theories and quotes from Machiavelli. Putting a lad-culture icon, a hip-hop star, a goodfella and a Soprano sidekick together in a shoot-’em-up movie might make Maxim readers giddy; believing that hollow surrealism instantly makes incoherence profound, however, is delusional.
Author: David Fear
Time Out New York Issue 636: December 6-12, 2007
User reviews of this film
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- jorpip said...
- Posted on Jun 16 2008 02:51 Despite having flaws that may unravel the mystery behind the movie for some viewers, the idea behind the storyline was unique and intelligent. Ignore the other negative comments and watch the movie for yourself. Those who find this movie to be simple missed the beauty of it's accomplishments, and therefore have revealed that they are the simple ones.
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- John Doe said...
- Posted on Mar 19 2008 15:57 Nope. The critic got it right: Pretentious, recycled garbage. Sorry, Mr. Ritchie, but the "surprise" was about as obvious as your casting choices.
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- anonymous said...
- Posted on Nov 06 2007 09:48 personally i thought this was fantastic. it took a couple of viewings to fully understand, but i was only delighted to have an excuse to watch it again and again. Sorter in particular was a very cool character. i enjoyed it a lot, and it kept me thinking. overall, a very good crime thriller
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Cast & crew
Director: Guy Ritchie
Producer: Virginie Silla
Cast: Jason Statham, André Benjamin, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 106 mins
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