The Limey
by Steven Soderbergh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzm?n, Terence StampDirector: Steven Soderbergh
Brand: LIMEY, THE (DVD MOVIE)
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-02-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of The Limey
Movie Review: A hidden masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
After watching "The Limey" I was in awe of what I had beheld. This movie was dynamic and mute simultaneously. The genre of this film is a neo-noir, in other words a modern version of those crime/mysteries films made back in the golden days of cinema. These old school movies were black and white, "noir" is French for "black", hence the term film noir.
A thousand apologies for the deviation on my cinema history lesson, I will return to the review at hand. I have to say that I am on the fence with Steve Soderbergh's work. Some of his movies are great; I loved the remake of Solaris in 2002, "Out of Sight" and "Traffic". Consequently, I hated all of the "Ocean" films and "Full Frontal". So I wasn't sure what to except from "The Limey". In the end, I feel Soderbergh hit the nail on the head. The acting, editing, cinematography, acting and story were stellar.
The plot is simplistic; Terence Stamp plays a British ex-con who has traveled to Los Angeles to "investigate" the murder of his estranged daughter Jenny. In the process, he hooks up with some of his daughter's friends (played well by Lesley Ann Warren and Luis Guzman) in order to solve the conundrum of his Jenny's death in a very conspiratorial fashion. Jenny was involved with a ritzy music producer (played smoothly by Peter Fonda), who appears to have his hand in her death.
What I thought was sort of neat about this film is the use of flashbacks. The movie "Poor Cow" was used in order to provide flashback's to Terence Stamp's character. "Poor Cow" featured Stamp at a much younger age and worked well with "The Limey". I don't think I have ever seen this technique used in a movie before. As for the editing, I found it amazing. It might annoy some viewers; it is somewhat non-liner in fashion. The editing sort of displaces some scenes in the continuity of the film and/or foreshadows events. There is also a distressed emphasis of dialogue with the editing. Characters will be in one setting and then switch to another, while the dialogue is still going. There might even be a scene where the dialogue is going and none of the characters are speaking. It reminded me somewhat of the movie "Memento".
I have heard some criticism of Terence Stamp's character in this movie. That he displayed neither emotion nor it didn't seem plausible that he would be that intense about finding who did or didn't kill his daughter. Also it seemed odd that Jenny's friends would aid her father that Jenny herself was never totally copasetic with. I believe the retort to that theory is that both Jenny's friends and father are aiding one and other out of restitution for their lack of involvement in what happened to Jenny. Perhaps, from their perception, they could have done more to prevent Jenny's ominous outcome. As for the end of the movie, I had to sit and really think about it. Perhaps I am being a bit too quixotic, but once I processed and digested this film, I felt very gratified with the conclusion.
I suppose I can understand why someone might not like this movie. It isn't a shoot out revenge film and there isn't non-stop action in it. Nevertheless if one is able to get submerged in the story, they might find that this 90 minute or so movie goes by quickly. I also found the soundtrack amazing and I ordered it as soon as the movie ended. The score was done by Cliff Martinez, who has scored many of Soderbergh's films, including the hypnotic score to Solaris (2002).
My only regret about "The Limey" is that I hadn't seen it sooner.
Summary of The Limey
Oscar nominees Terence Stamp (Billy Budd) Lesley Ann Warren (Victor/Victoria) and Peter Fonda (Ulee s Gold) team up with the director of Out of Sight and Sex lies and videotape for this critically acclaimed thriller that Newsday called "a lean and mean treat for savvy action lovers."British ex-con Wilson (Terence Stamp) arrives in Los Angeles to investigate the mystery of his daughter s "accidental" death. His prime suspect the wealthy heavily guarded music promoter Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda) is no easy target. Propelled into an increasingly brutal search for truth Wilson with single-mindedness and terrifying precision moves unstoppably toward revenge.System Requirements:Starring: Terrence Stamp Peter Fonda Luis Guzman Barry Newman and Lesley Ann Warren. Directed By: Steven Soderbergh. Running Time: 89 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Artisan Live Entertainment.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating:?R UPC:?012236607502Steven Soderbergh's follow-up to his sexy thriller Out of Sight is an equally stylish but far more austere crime drama, a work of memory that mixes flashbacks, flashforwards, and ruminations on the present into an invigorating cinematic quilt. Terence Stamp is Wilson, an aging cockney criminal fresh out of prison who flies to Los Angeles to search for his daughter's killer. She died in a car wreck, but he suspects that her lover, a music industry mogul named Valentine (Peter Fonda), knows more than he's telling. Wilson is a fish out of water indeed, a cool, cruel London thug on the airy, sun-bright street of L.A., a silver-haired criminal taking on street punks and hit men with the relentless drive of a man possessed. It's like Get Carter channeled through Point Blank, a hard-edged revenge thriller steeped in sorrow and regret, trading the warmth of Out of Sight's romantic heat for a more contemplative remove. Fonda beautifully plays off his cinematic history of 1960s hippies and rebels as a nervous, cowardly millionaire sellout in white cotton peasant shirts and a deep California tan. Luiz Guzman and Lesley Ann Warren costar as Wilson's "adopted" guides through modern L.A., and Barry Newman is excellent as Valentine's tough, terse head of security, another aging pro blindsided by Wilson's relentless single-mindedness. Soderbergh quotes from Ken Loach's 1967 film Poor Cow (sadly not available on video in the U.S.) for Wilson's flashbacks as a fresh-faced teenage thug. --Sean Axmaker
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