Revolver (2005)

Gambler Jake Green enters into a game with potentially deadly consequences.

Director:

Guy Ritchie

Writers:

Luc Besson (adaptation), Guy Ritchie

Stars:

Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, André Benjamin

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Statham	...	Jake Green
Ray Liotta	...	Dorothy Macha
Vincent Pastore	...	Zach
André Benjamin	...	Avi
Terence Maynard	...	French Paul (as Terrence Maynard)
Andrew Howard	...	Billy
Mark Strong	...	Sorter
Francesca Annis	...	Lily Walker
Mem Ferda	...	Macha's Goon
Anjela Lauren Smith	...	Doreen
Elana Binysh	...	Rachel
Shend	...	Teddy (Billy's Bodyguard)
Bill Moody	...	Al
Stephen Walters	...	Joe
Vincent Riotta	...	Benny

Storyline

After seven years in solitary, Jake Green is released from prison. In the next two years, he amasses a lot of money by gambling. He's ready to seek his revenge on Dorothy (Mr. D) Macha, a violence-prone casino owner who sent Jake to prison. He humiliates Macha in front of Macha's lieutenants, leaves, and keels over. Doctors tell him he has a rare disease and will die in three days; Macha also puts a hit out on him. Loan sharks, Zack and Avi, demand Jake's cash and complete fealty in return for protection. Jake complies, and through narration and flashbacks, we watch him through at least three days of schemes, danger, and redemption. Who is his greatest enemy?

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Plot Keywords:

gambling | casino | prison | flashback | disease | 

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Taglines:

Your mind will not accept a game this big

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures

Country:

France UK

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

22 September 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Revólver

Filming Locations:

Eltham Palace, Court Road, Eltham, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£882,814 (United Kingdom), 25 September 2005, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$41,820, 9 December 2007, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$75,420, 16 December 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp,Revolver Pictures Co.,Isle of Man Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vinnie Jones was asked to appear in this film.

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Goofs

When Mr Green delivers the first bag of cash, the notes are clearly denominated 'TWELVE' in the centre of the their reverse. US dollar bills have the denomination at the bottom.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jake Green: One thing I've learned in the last seven years: in every game and con there's always an opponent, and there's always a victim. The trick is to know when you're the latter, so you can become the former.

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Crazy Credits

There are six title cards carrying quotes (some real, some made up) which appear, the first four before the film starts; the ideas in the quotes are referred to in the dialogue. 1. "The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look." - Julius Caesar, 75 B.C. 2. "The only way to get smarter is by playing a smarter opponent." - Fundamentals of Chess, 1883 3. "First rule of business, protect your investment." - Etiquette of the Banker, 1775 4. "There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy." - Niccolo Machiavelli, 1502 At 1:13 : 5. "The only real enemy to have ever existed, is an internal one." - The Road to Suicide, pg1, line 1 At 1:36 : 6. "Your friends are close, but your enemy is closer." - The Road to Suicide, pg1, line 2

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Alternate Versions

After a less than successful festival and UK theatrical run, the film was recut for its North American release. In the reworked version, the film is ten minutes shorter, the scenes are arranged differently, some scenes are removed, some added, the film ends at a different point, and there are clips of psychologists talking about the ID during the end credits.

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Connections

References The Usual Suspects (1995)

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Soundtracks

Piano Sonata No.14 in C Sharp-Minor, Op. 27, No. 2
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven
Restaurant Shootout Scene)

User Reviews

It isn't style without substance – it is style with poor substance

After seven years in solitary confinement between a cell containing a chess master and a cell containing a con artist, Jake leaves to seek revenge on Macha with the vast amount of money he has gotten from gambling. He starts his revenge with humiliation but soon blacks out only to be told by a doctor that he has mere days to live. Mysterious loan sharks Zack and Avi offer him "protection" from death in return for all his money. Meanwhile Macha puts a hit out on Jake. With death and betrayal everywhere, somebody is playing the ultimate high-stakes game – but are all the players known, and who will emerge victorious?

I had someone ask me recently if I'd seen this because they wanted a second opinion. The reason for this, they said, was that they thought it was good one minute, then terrible the next, then maybe it is good again, then not, then it ended. Of course being asked for an opinion peaked my interest (and boosted my ego) and I was planning to watch it anyway, just to see for myself what about it deserved such a slating from the critics. In answer to the latter statement it must be said that, unsurprisingly, the film did not deserve the universal condemnation it received in the press and in truth it was just another time to lay into someone who had gotten too big for his boots and perhaps needed taking down a peg or two – and a weak project was the perfect reason. It happens every year – critics have so many mediocre films to write about that a good one sees loving reviews in the same way as a bad one is the chance to write a really memorable, scathing review – whether either it is truly deserved or not.

So this leaves me with my colleague's statement and on that I found him to be accurate because at times it does SEEM to be a really cool film that is going somewhere interesting. This impression is built around a good start and pace to the film, with plenty of tough posturing, mystery and style. In fact, to deny that the film is delivered with style would be bad form indeed because the film does look very cool and very interesting. Problem is that, at some point, that isn't enough and once you get beyond the halfway mark you get the increasing feeling that this isn't going anywhere nearly as interesting or clever as you would like to think. By the ending that feeling will be confirmed as correct as the film stumbles into a pretentious and poorly delivered conclusion to the story and characters. Ritchie had been quite unreasonably arrogant about people who don't "get" his film but to me not only is it his fault for the ham-fisted delivery of his twist, but as writer he also has come up with an idea for a twist that reads like a poor copy of other, better films. It just doesn't play and the cold (if stylish) approach keeps the audience at a distance so we care less than we should and are given more opportunity to see the twists as pretentious and half-cooked.

Within this messy and slightly nonsensical affair the cast actually do pretty well by playing to the style rather than the content. Statham makes the best of his situation with another tough presence on screen even if, ultimately, I don't think he buys his character himself and thus cannot be part of the sale to the audience. Liotta I quite liked even though the "unhinged violent criminal" thing is pretty much the equivalent of him staring out the window with everything set to cruise control. Pastore and Benjamin are a cool presence who drive the film early on (with the mystery of their characters) but gradually become less engaging as the plot unravels. The rest of the cast pretty much provide solid enough tough men without (fortunately) sinking into the easy "apples and pears" type performances that Ritchie seems to like in his films generally. The only performance of real note though is from Ritchie as director because he pulls everything together with a lot of visual style and imagination; shame then that the worst "performance" is also from him as a writer because he has produced a script so full of its own cleverness that it cannot be bothered to aim for engaging the audience and sits back arrogantly while the delivery is fudged and incoherent.

Revolver is not the screaming disaster that everyone would have you believe, but this is as close to a recommendation as I can give it. Visually it is stylish and early on this sense of tough coolness does draw you into the plot to see where it goes. Sadly though the answer is that it doesn't go anywhere worth being and it goes there with a slow pace that suggests it is being very clever and worthy when really the plot is not anywhere as clever or as developed as it needed to be. It isn't style without substance – it is style with poor substance.