Revolver (2005/I)

Director:

Guy Ritchie

Writers:

Luc Besson (adaptation)
Guy Ritchie (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 2005 (Russia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Your mind will not accept a game this big

Plot:

Gambler Jake Green enters into a game with potentially deadly consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Prison | Disease | Boss | Gambling

Cast

Jason Statham	...	Jake Green
Ray Liotta	...	Dorothy Macha
Vincent Pastore	...	Zach
André Benjamin	...	Avi
Terence Maynard	...	French Paul
Andrew Howard	...	Billy
Mark Strong	...	Sorter
Francesca Annis	...	Lily Walker
Anjela Lauren Smith	...	Doreen
Elana Binysh	...	Rachel
Faruk Pruti	...	Ivan (Billy's Bodyguard)
Shend	...	Teddy (Billy's Bodyguard)
Bill Moody	...	Al
Stephen Walters	...	Joe
Vincent Riotta	...	Benny

Also Known As:

Revólver (Argentina) (DVD title) [es]
Revolver (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Revolver (Italy) (DVD title) [it]
Tabanca (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:M18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Germany:16 | Australia:MA (2009) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Isle of Man

Company:

Europa Corp.

Trivia:

The stack of bills Avi sniffs are $12 bills. The written-out words also say "Twelve".

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At first when he gets to his house, before he gets to the door, you can see the crew in the reflection in the car's paint.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jake Green: One thing I've learned in the last seven years: in every game and con there's always an opponent, and there's always a victim. The trick is to know when you're the latter, so you can become the former.

Movie Connections:

References The Usual Suspects (1995)

Soundtrack:

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No.14 in C Sharp-Minor, Op. 27, No. 2

Vaporous Adversaries in the Margins of Quantum Mechanics Textbooks

This is a test.

This is a test of the system, to determine who is who and who is speaking to whom. You think this is me you are watching, but it is you making these letters into bits of yourself.

Its a banal, sophomoric insight. Its the stuff of retail religions. Its aped by dopes. But none of that makes it less rich for artistic exploration.

Richie is something of a nitwit with an amusing style which merges staccato internal narration with clean, brisk editing. His stuff is simple, cinematic fun. Here he takes this idea, common even in Adult Swim cartoons on TeeVee, and serves it up as a sort of kindergarten "Memento." (or more aptly "Old Boy.")

But. But in my world it doesn't matter. I think David Lynch would be a disaster as a dinner companion. Listening to him is like listening to an acid burnout case, and it makes me sick. Yet his films are as deep as they come because he opens a door and leaves room for me to furnish the place. His films are genius so he doesn't have to be.

This is a small case of that. Except for some amazing missteps (the cartoon, the reversed car crash), the guys in the hot tub, the lollipop lips.... this is a Stata Center, a jumbled space that is friendly to advanced ideas merely because it is jumbled and open -- and not because it has any sense.

I believe this is because where the Stata Center is jumbled spatially (its at MIT), this is jumbled cinematically in much the same way. Its the cinematic quality of the room. Its easy to read. It provides launching pads. It doesn't matter at all what it says. In fact it even says it doesn't matter what it says. It pretends to be a challenge that is equal of the highest level of play (and believes it) but at the same time it allows that this is always bogus.

Its no Greenaway, Kar-Wai or Medem. There is nothing here to find, no implanted wisdom, quite the opposite. But you will find it worthwhile.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.