Revolver
(2005/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C-
After a
few years, Guy Ritchie’s Revolver
(2005) has arrived and it is easily the poorest of his three British Gangster
efforts. I was no fan of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels,
but understood its appeal. I liked Snatch much more, but this effort is
unoriginal, boring, out of gas and overrated producer Luc Besson only makes
things worse.
Jason
Statham (who was better recently in Roger Donaldson’s The Bank Job) is an out of his luck convict who gets involved in a
wacky scheme to get back at a mob boss (a wasted Ray Liotta) for getting him
jailed for years, where he learned how to play chess with a master. He will try and use some of this new skill to
even the score, even if he has to lower himself to relying on two other tough
gangster types (Andre Benjamin and Vincent Pastore, wasted badly here) in the
process.
Ritchie
had just disemboweled the international classic Swept Away (see the original reviewed elsewhere on this site) and
it seemed a safe move to go back into this kind of storytelling, but sadly, he
should have taken some of the chess advice from his own lead character and try
something different. I cannot remember
the last time I have seen so many clichés in the genre, but that is what we get
for a long 104 minutes. Only the diehard
curious should apply.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot in Super 35mm by Director of
Photography Tim Maurice Jones, has few good shots and should have never attempted
to look like Martin Scorsese’s Casino
in the too-many scenes it does. Though
color is not totally gutted, this transfer is lighter than expected and could
have been better, even for this format, so it will look better on Blu-ray by
default. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is
lively, but not much else. Music is dull
and sound effects are overused to match the would-be slick editing style. Extras include concept and making of featurettes,
Ritchie commentary, deleted scenes and outtakes.
Unless
you are ultra-curious, forget it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
