REVOLVER
UK, 2005, 111 minutes, Colour.
Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore, Andre Benjamin, Terence Maynard, Andrew Howard, Mark Strong, Francesca Annis.
Directed by Guy Ritchie.
When a director is well-liked and appreciated, critiques of his/her films are often more about the director than a review of the film itself. This is even truer when the director is disliked. Guy Ritchie has been treated in this way. He directed an unexpected hit with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which led the way for umpteen imitations which irritated the critics. He did his own follow up, Snatch, which led to unfavourable reviews. Then he married Madonna and started a family which did led to further criticism. Then he made a film with her which was virtually unreleased, Swept Away, and that was considered the end of him. Now he has made Revolver which has received some of the worst reviews anyone would not want to see.
This is by way of prologue to saying that I found Revolver very interesting. My hunch is that the public will not like it, will find it far too difficult to understand and, as they say, stay away in droves. The other hunch is that if it had been released under the name of, say, an unknown Eastern European film-maker in an art-house cinema, it would have received respectful and possibly rave reviews for its innovation, for its blend of fantasy and reality and for its psychological explorations!
Revolver is something of a misleading title. Yes, there are guns in the film. Ritchie, however, wants the title to have more existential overtones, that everything that happens comes round again. That is probably the clue. This is an existential, psychological drama set in the world of criminals.
The criminal world is a mixture of London’s Soho and Las Vegas. There are $12 notes. Half the cast is British and have British accents, half are American with American accents. This is an invented territory that should give us some clues to the unreality we are watching. The other clue is that there is constant voiceover and commentary by the central character, Jake Green (Mr Green in echoes of Reservoir Dogs). He is played by Ritchie’s friend, Jason Statham, who in films like The Transporter series plays very stolidly indeed. He is much better as Mr Green. Ray Liotta gives what seems at times to be a hammy performance until we realize who he really is.
It would be interesting to pinpoint the moment in the film where the audience realizes that everything is happening inside the head of Jake Green, that he is not only schizophrenic with paranoid fears but that his psyche is multiple personality. It is this key element which could baffle audiences thinking they were watching a straightforward gangster movie (although the successful Fight Club did something similar).
So, for those who like the film, which is stylishly photographed with some tricksy angles and editing, and are able to accept its sometimes overwrought manner and rhetorical dialogue (especially at the end when the personalities start arguing with each other), there is plenty to think about in terms of action, responsibility, self-delusion, self-destruction and identity. At the beginning Ritchie also includes captions with quotations about enemies, war and confidence tricks and re-inserts them throughout the film.
For those who are not put off by the negative reviews, intriguing.
1. The title? Guns? Revolving?
2. The locations, the blend of the British and American city? The streets, the casino, apartments, luxury, offices? The blend of the real and the surreal?
3. The musical score, the use of music classics?
4. The narrative, the voice-over? Jake, his voice, other voices intruding, psychological state? Two Jakes?
5. The action in his head, real, imagined, created? The moral conflict? The psychological conflict?
6. The quotes throughout the film, on psychology, the psyche, identity, enemies, outsmarting enemies, sophisticated enemies, intimations of suicide?
7. The use of chess, the chessboard, interactions and play? Symbolic?
8. Jake, getting out of prison, h or is being framed, serving seven years, Mancha and his comments?
9. Jake and his psychological state, wanting revenge, linking up with his friends, going to the casino, sitting down defiant? Wanting to see Macha, going into the room, the confrontation, Macha? Gambling, flipping the coin, getting the money, his knowing how to play games, the rules of the game?
10. Macha, his status, wealth, the casino, the henchmen, in action, violent and brutal, his moods? Paul, his advice, orders? The money? The luxury bed, in the solarium, with the women? His wanting to move the drugs? The contact with Mr Gold, the elaborate room and the art work? The enigmatic Ms Walker? His failure to get the drugs, the switch, wanting to contact the Chinese? The failures? Building up to Jake, the confrontation, the voices in Jake’s head, real or not? The identity of Mr Gold? The role of Miss Walker? Macha and his talking about fear and becoming afraid?
11. Sorter as the assassin, his ability to hit, his missing? Seeing him in action? The child in the cupboard? His shooting through the walls and the roof? His change in attitude, because of the child, his death?
12. The Chinese, the characters, drugs, the seductive girl? The boss? Confrontations and killings?
13. Jake, Billy, love for his daughter, giving support to Jake, his being taken, hiding the daughter in the cupboard, his hand being impaled?
14. Jake and his time in prison, in isolation, the two men in the cells each side, his explanation, communication with them, the chess moves, their disappearance?
15. The two men, their appearance, American style, their hold over Jake, control, the characters, getting the money, the loans, taking Jake’s money, his collecting it from the security box, confrontations and the effect? The clients, violence, deaths?
16. Audience realisation that the two with this hold were the two from the prison?
17. All this happening in Jake’s head, where is Jake in reality – still in prison? The confrontation with Macha, his lying on his bed, the arguments, the gun, the issue of fear?
18. Ultimately who is Jake, where is he, physically, psychologically?
