best movie i've ever seen.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An Unconventional Director, Steven Soderbergh, Wears His Unconventionality on His Sleeve with a Relative Disregard for much of Anything. He is a Frustrating Filmmaker and even Fans of Offbeat Cinema can Sometimes Say What the?This is a Watchable Exercise in Personal Storytelling and Movie Making that is Pretentious but at times Compelling. Aside from all the Razzle Dazzle Editing and Camera Angles and Movement and the Cross Cutting of Dialog and Images, it is Ironically the Standard Revenge Story that Holds Things Together.Two Substantial and Believable Lead Performances from Stamp and Fonda are quite Engaging with much Character History. Both are Brutes in Their Own Way and the Inevitable Confrontation is what Links all this Staggered Swagger Together. At Times the Movie is Unsettling while being Interesting, but at other Times it seems Showy and Clunky and there are Flourishes that Intrude on the Drama.Overall, not the Directors Worse Showpiece, in Fact, one of the Betters. But it can be a bit much for Casual Moviegoers that might Wish His Talents were left to Their Own Designs rather than Overly Designed to the Point of a Braggadocio.

The Limey is directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. It stars Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman, Peter Fonda and Nicky Katt. Music is by Cliff Martinez and cinematography by Edward Lachman.Wilson (Stamp), fresh out of prison, travels to Los Angeles to investigate the death of his estranged daughter Jenny (Melissa George). Aided by a couple of her friends, Wilson's trail leads to the last guy Jenny was dating, oily record producer Terry Valentine (Fonda), a guy with more than record producing on his CV.Steven Soderbergh picks up on a common film noir theme, that of a man seeking revenge for the death of a friend or loved one, and cloaks it in visual and aural artistry. The story as written is simple, undeniably so, yet the narrative structure spins it into a vortex of complexity and psychological disharmony.Alongside his editor, Sarah Flack, Soderbergh uses flash-backs and flash-forwards to unfurl the plot. Thus we often get a triplicate viewpoint of a scene, such as what will happen, what the antagonist wants to happen or what might happen! It's dizzying stuff but it serves the emotional thrum of the plot beautifully and draws the viewer firmly into Wilson's state of mind. This is the case with dialogue and sound as well, where a current scene will feature previous or future aural snatches. The director also splices in scenes from Wilson's memory banks to marry up the emotional discord, while also deftly using scenes from Stamp's performance in 1967 film Poor Cow (Ken Loach) to show the youthful Wilson from happier times.If this all sounds like style over substance? Then it is, but The Limey rises above this issue because elsewhere there's other great rewards. Notably Stamp's performance and the counter-point characterisation by Fonda. Stamp, in full cockney spouting mode is having a great time, he has Wilson as a feral man of vengeance, but with a knowing sense of parody, he also exudes a sorrowful guilt at his inadequacies as a father. Fonda has Valentine as a relic of the sixties, he's regressing and constantly looks back. It's a smooth performance from Fonda, weasel like but never over the top in villain terms, and the fact that Stamp and Fonda are mostly kept apart until the finale really helps the characterisations to thrive. Good support comes from Guzman and Warren, though Newman only just convinces as Valentine's "enforcer".There's good humour to be found here, intentionally so, something that seems to have thrown some folk into thinking Stamp is going over the top. That isn't the case, though, Wilson is a veteran of prison and wry humour is merely one of his defence mechanisms. One of the great scenes in the film sees Wilson launch into a cockney monologue as a stony faced DEA Agent (Bill Duke looking hard as always) listens without understanding a thing he says! It's also worth pointing out that although the story is average, Lem Dobbs' screenplay does throw in a very good ending, a veer from the norm that closes the picture on a strong note. There's so much good about The Limey that it's a safe recommendation to neo-noir fans and fans of Stamp and Soderbergh. 7.5/10

Well, the composition/editing is peculiar: narrative structure of the movie is presented in disjointed flashbacks by the main character Wilson during his plane trip home to England, and there are frequent dialog and background sound from previous or future scenes juxtaposed with a current scene. Luckily, all this is not too confusing and provides the movie with extra value and distinction. Terence Stamp as Wilson and Luis Guzmán as Eduardo Roel are catchy, but the total cast is not evenly strong (as in Ocean-series or Out of Sight, for example). And the beginning of the movie is more promising, then it becomes an rather ordinary crime movie with an ordinary and predictable ending.However, it is still better than many similar movies and its duration is 1 hour 20 minutes only. Find the time and see!

Not a very groundbreaking premise is it? An ex con going out to avenge a relative who's been murdered, sounds just GET CARTER does it not ? It sure does and the worst thing about THE LIMEY is it resembles the disappointing remake of GET CARTER . Actually it's worse than that because while that film was a straightforward MTV influenced movie this one is more like MTV on acid - without MTV It's obvious Soderbergh is aware that he has a very very worn premise for a film but this arty approach becomes very very tiresome very very quickly. In fact it becomes more than merely very very tiresome it becomes very very irritating as we cut - back - and - forth - between scenes - again - and - again like - this . it's not clever and it becomes very very distracting along with other very formalist aspects of film making as out of synch voice over etc . It's not clever and it's just not on Guv One can see Soderberg is trying to make something a million miles away from the mainstream as if he's got an agenda to reboot tried and tested narrative formula with experimental visuals in much the same way as French New Wave did , but this agenda gets in the way of the storytelling and ultimately sinks the movie