Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Lem Dobbs (Screenplay)
Starring: Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro, Peter Fonda, Nicky Katt, Melissa George
Plot: An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for his daughter’s death.
Tagline – Vengeance knows no boundaries.
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Poorly Shot Thriller
Story: The Limey starts when volatile Englishman Wilson (Stamp) heads to LA after receiving news from Eduardo Roel (Guzman) about the news of his daughter Jenny’s (George) death, Wilson wants answers and starts to investigate the man believed to be behind it Terry Valentine (Fonda).
As Wilson doesn’t take long to get close to Terry, he finds himself being put on a hitlist by his fixer Jim Avery (Newman), with the personal battle between the two, with Wilson refusing to stop before getting revenge.
Thoughts on The Limey
Characters – Wilson is a violent English criminal who has spent time in prison for violent crimes, he is a free man now, which sees him travel to America in search for information behind his daughter’s death. He isn’t going to go down quietly and wants to get the message across personally in his attempt to get revenge on the person he believes was behind her death. Terry Valentine is the record producer that Wilson is targeting, he lives in the hilltop looking down on the city with his latest project on his arm, he lets Jim deal with his problems. Jim Avery is the fixer for Terry, he has the connections to solve problems, he doesn’t explain how, he just gets things done for him. Elaine is the only friend of Jenny’s Wilson meets, she explains how things were around the town, giving him somebody to talk to about the situation.
Performances – Terence Stamp is the highlight of the film as the relentless father who wants the truth, he brings confidence to every scene, where his character is the most important part of every scene. Peter Fonda as the record producer playboy works well with the rest of the cast never looking completely out of place.
Story – The story follows a criminal who wants revenge for the death of his daughter, which sees him investigating her life before getting involved with a battle against a record producer. The story is the easy revenge idea, nothing wrong with that, we get the flashbacks to the memories with the daughter, which all work well. When it comes to how the story is shot, we are left with most of the problems, it feels very jerky, nothing seems to focus on what is going on in each scene, with the conversation sequences almost showing the endless pauses, rather than giving us a proper conversation. It does feel like the story is trying to be more down to Earth and grittier than a flashy revenge thriller.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of this film follows the criminal willing to do anything to solve the mystery about his daughter, in the criminal underworld.
Settings – The film is set in LA, which does show the luxury like Jenny would have been living in and how the different levels of people will be living in while there.
Scene of the Movie – The showdown.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Cockney rhyming slang is bad.
Final Thoughts –This is a thriller that brings a grittier approach to revenge, only to find itself poorly shot even if the cast doesn’t put a foot wrong.
Overall: Gritty Thriller.
