Revolver - D

On DVD (2007). Rated R, 105 minutes. Trailer.

Guy Ritchie is a hack. This film confirms that any of quality of Ritchie's previous directorial efforts Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (B) and Snatch (B+) was due to the producer of those films, Layer Cake (A) director Matthew Vaughn (I am being kind by leaving out Swept Away, the movie Ritchie wrote and directed for his wife, Madonna). Revolver is a frustrating, stupid mess of a movie that wastes its quality cast.

Click below for the review of Revolver.

The film opens with cool guy hustler Jake (Jason Statham), being released from prison after 7 years. We then cut to Macha's (Ray Liotta) casino 2 years later with Jake coming in to face his nemesis (the source of the animosity is never explained). Jake then leaves in an ambulance after falling stylishly down a stairway. He leaves the hospital and is immediately almost shot, being saved by Vincent Pastore, who apparently stole his wardrobe from the Sopranos and insists on wearing it at all times. He is taken to a pool hall where Andre Benjamin explains that Jake's hospital results say he will die in 3 days from a rare blood disorder and that Andre and Vincent will protect Jake from the guy that tried to shoot him if he give Andre and Vincent all of his money. Sorry, but the 28 questions and inconsistencies in this crucial plot point just don't work. The rest of the film features Jake, Vincent and Andre all running a loan shark business, playing chess, and evading Macha and his crew. The whole time Jake is waxing philosophical about 'the perfect score' and 'the only way to get strong is to play a stronger opponent'.

In the last sequences of the film, Jake approaches Macha in his bedroom and Ritchie shows Jake battling himself by making Jake's ego scream at him the whole time. Then, back at the pool hall, Andre reveals the 'trick' ending, which couldn't be more obvious or less interesting. Ritchie includes statements from psychiatrists during the closing credits to try and add gravity to the ending and the film; it doesn't work.

Ray Liotta and Jason Statham are trying hard here, but there's no chance to succeed with the script and direction provided. Liotta's character is a mix of every cliched gambling movie ever made, without any innovation, and the same goes for Statham's character. The only reason the film stayed out of the F pile is the character/performance of Mark Strong as Sorter, Macha's lethally technical hit man.

The trailer for this film was great, with superb pacing, music and visuals. False advertising for sure. Besides the worst script I have been subjected to in a long while, the 'stylish' camera moves that Ritchie tries are absolutely worthless and are shoehorned in as if he were a high school kid directing his first short film. Somehow animation of the characters (somewhat similar to what Oliver Stone did in Natural Born Killers (A-), but without the artistic impact) makes it into the film, as do meaningless slow-motion and overhead shots. Bad all around.