REVOLVER

Last Updated: November 7, 2007By

(by Ali Naderzad, SCREEN COMMENT) Greed, ego and revenge–welcome to Guy Ritchie‘s Revolver. Mr Ritchie has accomplished a lot in this spectacular, if crowded, new film. The now famous line ‘too many words’ has found a permanent home here, it seems, but only in the context of the quotations that appear on screen. The beginning scene and the one somewhere near the end are peppered with well-meaning phrases on the evils of the ego and your enemy hiding in the last place you would look for him. This feels, at least in terms of semantics, like a Bruce Lee movie. But Mr. Ritchie’s breathtaking return deserves high marks which need not be weighed down by this. The picture’s good. They’ll have us believe there is a new esthetic lurking about in there but this is Ritchie, alright, Mr Guy to you. The shots are loud, the bullets are gleaming and the boys dispatch them in volleys. Our cast of characters has gotten a bit more intimate this time, however. One lad called Jake Green (Jason Statham) just came out of jail and is looking for payback. A Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta), who himself answers to the mysterious and all-powerful Sam Gold, is the reason why Green had to serve seven years in jail. Much fracas ensues between these gentlemen and their representatives until the final, curiously anticlimactic, denouement. What follows, however, is probably the best scene of Revolver, though you will have to see it for yourself, won’t you? It has been a while since the filmmaker’s devotion to his screenplay has been on such gratuitous display. Every detail of Revolver is vetted by Mr Ritchie, it seems. The enigmatic French filmmaker Luc Besson produced Revolver. SCREEN COMMENT has attempted to contact him and will post an interview should Mr. Besson be able to reply. A magnificent show of neon-lit underworlds colliding in the paths of brash men who pack heavy loads of ammunition: Revolver signals the return of our favorite young Brit: the beach holiday is finally over! © 2007 Ali Naderzad

"ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL" (1974)