THE LIMEY (Artisan) Starring: Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman. Screenplay: Lem Dobbs. Producers: John Hardy and Scott Kramer. Director: Steven Soderbergh. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, violence) Running Time: 88 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Steven Soderbergh's THE LIMEY is sort of an action crime-drama -- only there's not all that much action, and relatively little crime. It's sort of a character study -- only there's not a whole lot of the main character to study. It's sort of an avant garde experiment by Soderbergh -- only Soderbergh has been plenty more avant garde in the past. THE LIMEY keeps nudging you for artistic respect, and you keep thinking you might give it more if only it would stop nudging. Intriguing films don't often feel as minimally satisfying as THE LIMEY.
On the surface, it seems like it has plenty going for it (though surface is one of the main things it does have going for it). The minimalist plot is something straight out of pulp crime fiction: tough British ex-con Wilson (Terence Stamp) learns that his daughter Jenny recently died in a car accident, and travels to Los Angeles to find out the whole story. In the process he hooks up with a couple of Jenny's friends, Eduardo (Luis Guzman) and Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren), and learns of Jenny's relationship with one-time 60s record-industry guru Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda). Eventually he also discovers that Valentine may have been involved in some criminal activities, and that Jenny's death may have been connected to finding out more than she was supposed to know.
Before you can say "They killed his daughter, now he's going to make them pay," Wilson is making his determined, laconic way through L. A., shooting, head-butting or rear-ending anyone who stands between him and the truth. I suspect THE LIMEY would have felt like a 25-year-too-late episode of "Mannix" if Soderbergh hadn't jolted the film's visual style. In effect, he turns most of the film into an extension on his Clooney/Lopez seduction sequence in OUT OF SIGHT -- flashing forward, flashing back, laying dialogue from one scene over images from another. It might have come off as simple gimmickry, if it weren't such an effective method of getting inside Wilson's head. An ex-con in unfamiliar territory and coping with unresolved grief, he's living the jagged, stream-of-consciousness life Soderbergh shows us on the screen.
That's a wonderful start for an exploration of how a criminal comes to terms with the choices he has made and the effect of those choices on those in his life. And that's about as far as it goes. For all its moodiness and somber tones, THE LIMEY really isn't terribly interested in the complexities of its characters. Terence Stamp does a nice job as Wilson, mixing a bit of introspection into the standard issue tough guy, but the introspection isn't as deep as all the mournful close-ups of Stamp would suggest -- he's just, as they say in the self-help biz, looking for closure. Guzman and Warren are flat-out wasted as supporting players who barely have a chance to register, while Fonda gets one or two decent moments as the fading tycoon. When Nicky Katt appears mid-way through the film as a hired killer, igniting the screen with his seething disdain for absolutely everything, it's startling. And you have to credit Katt, because screenwriter Lem Dobbs doesn't seem otherwise keen on vivid personalities.
It's not that THE LIMEY isn't an enjoyable piece of work. Soderbergh is one of those directors who can give a mundane scene an electrifying twist, as in the unconventional way he films Wilson's rampage at a downtown warehouse. The reason THE LIMEY never feels like a gritty vengeance caper, despite its car chases and shootouts, is that Soderbergh is always yanking things 90 degrees from the expected direction. It would have made for an even better film, however, if it never felt like a gritty vengeance caper because it actually _wasn't_ a gritty vengeance caper. Give Soderbergh credity for the convincing illusion that this genre film is something else. Stylistic flourishes aside, THE LIMEY is just a pretty darned good straight-ahead action crime-drama -- provided you like them with relatively little action, and not all that much crime.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 con artistes: 7.
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