Revolver

Today I watched Guy Ritchies latest film, "Revolver". While this movie resembles Ritchie's other works, save "Swept Away," set in the seedy criminal underworld, this time Ritchie adds a Freudian twist. Borrowing the words of many psychologists, who are given exhibition in the credits, Ritchie tells the metaphysical emancipation story of gambler and recent ex-con, Jake, played by Jason Statham, who seems to be good for nothing if he is not in a Ritchie movie. Jake is riding high having made a killing at casinos, since his release from prison. He has spent 7 years solitary confinement--five of those years were spent between the cells of two con men, who play chess and share professional ideas via the pages of prison library books. Jake gets in on the conversation, and, while he gets a grifter's Ph.D. he also shares the location of his nest egg for when he gets out. Two years after his mentors escape prison without him, he returns to the crime boss, Macha, Ray Liotta, whose freedom he maintained by serving time, looking for payback.

Once Jake publicly humiliates Macha and takes him for a large sum, Jake takes a spill and ends up in the hospital where he is diagnosed with a rare blood disease leaving him only weeks to live. Just before the fall Jake was approached by a stranger, Vincent Pastore, offering a prophetic business card. The stranger, after returning to rescue Jake from an ambush, set up by Macha, reveals himself to be a lone shark, who, along with partner, Andre Benjamin, will provide Jake revenge on Macha and protection on the condition that he give them all the money he has.

Revolver is, unsurprisingly, a highly stylized crime/heist movie with strong performances from Pastore, Benjamin and Liotta. Statham also holds his own. Now if he could just deliver this performance to another director, or, at least offer it to a director who deserves it. While all the shine and grime we have come to expect from Guy Ritchie is present, he goes overboard a little with the voices in the head scenes that leave the viewer wondering if they are supposed to recognize two voices or three. Revolver looks at an area of psychology that would sound hokey if it were not within a story of killers and crooks. This grunges up the concept just enough to obscure Madonna's kooky influence on the story.

It's no "Abre Los Ojos," but Revolver succeeds at keeping your attention, while making you think. I suggest a second viewing just to catch up on what you misunderstood the first time through.