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

Two versions of this film have been released: the original version (which makes more sense and actually flows as a story), and the second version released to Australia and other countries containing deleted scenes as well as an altered order of scenes, and doesn't flow as smoothly as a narrative.

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Goofs

Although the film is set in a fairly generic American urban setting, in the scenes in a moving car in which Sorter (Mark Strong) talks about missing his shots, the actual scenery outside the car windows is that seen from a car heading east on Harcourt Road, Central District, in Hong Kong. At about 13:58 for instance we see the Bank of America Tower's Chinese and English signage very clearly in the background, a few seconds later we see I.M. Pei's Bank of China building behind Strong, and just after that the very distinctive shape of the two towers of what was originally Bond (now Lippo) Centre.

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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 no opening or end credits. Only the distributor (EuropaCorp) and the production company (Revolver Pictures Ltd) are credited at all. The ending has several minutes of blank screen and piano music. This seems to be a deliberate choice by the director to reinforce the movie's philosophical themes.

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Alternate Versions

There's a new 2007 Director's Cut DVD release of the movie in Skandinavia which is approx. 15 min shorter (101min) than the normal cut (115min).

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Connections

Featured in Brows Held High: Revolver: Well, You Tried (2017)

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Soundtracks

Lacrimosa
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Played during the scene where Jake Green falls down the stairs

User Reviews

This film is good

OK... this movie so far has been slated by critics and board-posters alike (although playing devil's advocate you could suggest that critics are often people who didn't make it for themselves as film-makers, and board posters are often people who didn't make it for themselves as critics) so I wanted to sit in Guy's corner with the magic sponge to perhaps reach maybe a couple of the people who've decided not to see the film based on how everybody seems to be looking down their collective nose of approval at it.

The film's biggest flaw in earning wide support is how unexpectedly complex it is. This has been described many times as as making the film "inaccessible" to the viewer. The film's chronology is relatively non-linear and the characters are used as not only a means of storytelling but as a device for showing us the subtle (or not so subtle) hints of bias we give things as we commit them to memory, IE. Ray Liotta's character brandishing a gun saying the words "fear me" is portrayed as both tragically pathetic (from Statham's POV) or interrogating and bold (from Liotta's POV). This is but one example of Ritchie's far more mature approach he has taken to film-making with Revolver, we have a storyline which is pretty archetypal (the strong but silent gritty anti-hero gets released from jail with a score to settle but gets drawn inadvertently into a world of corruption... I mean it's paint by numbers film noir here guys, all the way down to the vague poetic choice of diction and the gritty voice-overs) but then Guy has taken this framework to make a number of extremely philosophical and complex points.

Take the scene where Jason Statham's character runs afoul of a car. This throwaway sequence could have been emitted from the film and made no difference to the story whatsoever... but Ritchie is making point about how such little chance happenings such as receiving a phone call can make the difference between life and death.

So the final act of the movie is pretty mind boggling, I'd be taking the p*ss if I said I didn't spend the last 20 minutes or so of the film turning to my date going "uh... wtf?"... but that is the shoddiest reason to disregard a piece of art. It is far too easy to dislike something because you find it hard to understand. And even easier to say "well nobody else seemed to understand it so it must be a real turd of a film!". In my humble opinion, Revolver is a stylish, complex and mature piece of modern art which should be greeted with the same manner we would give the work of the Saatchi Brothers. If we choose this opportunity to collectively say "Ah sh*t, I wanted a film about a load of bleeding' cockney gangsters in-nit loll... Guy Ritchie is a tit!" then the day will come when film-makers are allowed only to make that which is expected of them by shallow, crappy people. Just because Guy made a name for himself with funny, cheeky cockney romps, doesn't mean he can't be deep without being "pretentious". Funny people can be thoughtful too.