Guy Ritchie, once hailed as the toast of world cinema with his audacious gangster comedies, saw his reputation plummet with the disastrous romantic drama Swept Away. It took time for Ritchie to bounce back from that fiasco, a process that was slow and frustrating, marked by another major misfire, albeit a more obscure one - the 2005 gangster drama Revolver.
The film follows Jack Green, a professional gambler played by Jason Statham, who was released from prison after serving seven years for a crime orchestrated by powerful gang boss Dorothy Macha (played by Ray Liotta). In prison, Jack discovered the perfect formula for winning any game, and when Macha refused to compensate him, he used that formula to beat him at the card game in Macha's own casino. Humiliated, Macha ordered a hit on Jack and his brother Billy (played by Andrew Howard). Two loansharks, Zach (played by Vincent Pastore) and Avi (played by Andre Benjamin), offered protection to Jack in exchange for him to give up all his money and participate in a complex scheme to rob Macha, leading to a bloody gang war.
During the making of Revolver, Ritchie teamed up with another heavyweight of world cinema, French director and cinema mogul Luc Besson, who co-wrote the script and produced the film. In many ways, Revolver can be seen as Besson's film as much as Ritchie's, owing to its encapsulation of the ethos of Cinema du look, a characteristic of Besson's early work marked by a prevalence of style over substance.
Visually, Revolver is decently directed, with many scenes impressively staged, and cinematography by Tim Maurice Jones providing a great atmosphere. The cast is interesting, with Vincent Pastore delivering a somewhat different type of character as a loanshark. Ray Liotta delivers a workmanlike, if not remarkable, portrayal of a near-psychotic villain, while Jason Statham, otherwise a charismatic action star, seems disinterested in his role.
However, the worst part of Revolver is the script, which allegedly draws inspiration from Buddhist teachings and Kabbalah. Ritchie and Besson attempted to use a standard gangster plot to explore deep philosophical issues, but they failed miserably. The plot is a complete mess, with many dialogue parts appearing pretentious, leaving the audience baffled about what is going on.
The forgettable soundtrack by Nathaniel Méchaly further detracts from the film's potential, ultimately depriving it of what might have been a saving grace for many of Ritchie's films - quality music. This all culminated in a well-deserved box office flop, accompanied by a critical trashing that sparked a mini-scandal when the film's poster quoted a positive review from The Sun that didn't actually exist.
Things got even worse when Ritchie, in a desperate attempt to rescue his reputation, released a Director's Cut, which, according to most critics, turned out even worse than the original.
While Revolver possesses moments of visual flair and boasts an interesting cast, it ultimately falters due to its muddled script and lacklustre performances. The film serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of prioritising style over substance and attempting to meld highbrow philosophical concepts with genre conventions without achieving clarity or coherence.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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