Photo Courtesy of www.empiremovies.com
By Jon Reino
Anyone who has ever seen a Guy Ritchie film knows how much of a roller coaster ride it is. Every film he touches has unparalleled intensity and deep complex stories that may take a little adjusting to fully comprehend. Revolver is no different, yet somehow this film slipped through the cracks between the releases of Snatch and RocknRolla. Just before releasing Revolver, he did, however, break this mold to make Swept Away staring Madonna, his wife at the time, which was a box office lead balloon. Revolver premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 11, 2005, but was virtually unseen by American viewers until its limited release on Dec. 7, 2007, some twenty months after it’s initial DVD release.
The film opens with the main character, Jake Green who is played by Jason Statham and also stars in many of Ritchie’s other films including Snatch, walking with two police officers and showing several famous quotes, including “The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look,” said by Julius Caesar in 75 B.C, and “The only way to get smarter is by playing a smarter opponent,” from The Fundamentals Of Chess, released in 1883. These quotes, as well as several others, introduce the general themes of the film.
Jake has just been released from jail after a seven year stretch, and he is after the man who is responsible for it, Dorothy Macha, played by Ray Liotta from the film Goodfellas. Jake is a conman and chess master, and Macha is a business man, so to speak. Both are each other’s sworn enemies. When Jake goes to one of Macha’s casinos, and wins a large sum of money from him in a coin toss, Macha wants him six feet under. But as Jake is leaving, a mysterious man hands him a business card, and tells him he is in trouble. As he heads for the staircase and attempts the read the card he suddenly blacks out and falls down the flight of stairs. In true Guy Ritchie fashion, Green’s fall is captured in extreme slow motion with great detail and intensity. The camera then focuses in on the card, showing that it says “take the elevator.” He is taken to the hospital where the nurse says his blood test results will take a few hours, and that, after, he can go home.
When he arrives home, he is ambushed by one of Macha’s hit-men in one of the most intense and stylish scenes of the film, and who else would come to his rescue but the mysterious man who gave him the card. The man is Zack, played by Vincent Pastore of The Sopranos, who brings Jake to see his partner Avi, played by Andre Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000 of the rap group Outkast.
Zack and Avi hand him the results of his blood test, but refuse to say where they got them. The test says that Jake is going to die within three days of a terminal disease of which there no cure, and when he checks up with the doctor he finds that Zack and Avi were not lying. The two of them are loan sharks, and they offer him a deal; in exchange for every last penny he has they will protect him from Macha and his men. Considering he can not take his money with him, he does not see that he has much of a choice.
Few movies are as complex and intense as Revolver, and even fewer can compare to Guy Ritchie’s stylish filmmaking. No one makes a more innovative and visually stunning action film than Ritchie. The storytelling is gripping, the acting is top notch and Jason Statham has never been better. Revolver could be described as an action film, a drama and even a philological thriller. The blend of action, comedy and all around style make this a must see. The plot twists and subtle hints will leave you stumped right up to the very end, and even when you think you have it all figured out, think again.
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