The Limey (1999)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Peter Fonda

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Tell Them I'M Coming


Plot: An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for his daughter's death.








My Rating: 9/10


Would I watch it again? Oh, yeah

It's the art-house British gangster flick you've been waiting for. This film oozes with style. Soderbergh tells much of the story with the audio not always matching the video. For example, there's a scene where Wilson (Stamp) is telling Elaine (Warren) about his strained relationship with his daughter. As he does, the camera cuts all over the place with him telling her in different locations but never breaking up the story. I think I'm having trouble trying to explain it. There are many times where you see something that has happened in the past few minutes/hours or in the future (minutes/hours) but is being spoken by the characters in the 'now'. It creates a really neat effect.



The performances are spot on. Stamp is a motherfucker in this. Badass. Guzman is great as always, Warren is fine, and Peter Fonda turns in a surprisingly good performance as a pussified record producer/promoter that has capitalized and made his career on the music of the 60s. There's a great extended uncredited cameo by Bill Duke. He's great. We need more of this guy in the movies. If the name doesn't do it for you he's the bald black guy from Predator. Now you know. Nicky Katt does a hilarious job as Stacy the Hitman.

The pacing is just right and the film clocks in at a quick 89 minutes and leaving nothing out. And damn, is this movie funny. Wilson is so sure of himself and isn't afraid of anything so seeing his Cockney British ass in Los Angeles going up against huge muscle-bound thugs is a riot. His machine gun delivery is just this side of James Cagney. There's a great scene where he's been taken in by the DEA and he's placed in the room with Bill Duke (the top DEA guy on the case) and before Duke says a word, Wilson yammers on for a full minute or two about what's going on, essentially trying to talk his way out of it and he doesn't know why he's there to begin with. It's a friggin' riot. Then Duke speaks ever so slightly, "The thing I don't understand is every mother fucking word you're sayin'." Classic.



And I've got to comment on Cliff Martinez's score. He uses two notes played on a piano that has been tuned a quarter tone apart which creates a VERY uneasy feeling when played against the drone in the background. Henry Mancini used the quarter tone effect in a much larger way with his outstanding score in WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967). Martinez's music kind of holds your hand to sooth you as you walk across a dangerous intersection at the same time make you worried that you're going to be left in the middle.

My friend commented about Stamp not too long into the picture. You see we had just watched STAR WARS THE PHANTOM MENACE last night and he wasn't familiar with Stamp's work. Tonight he piped up with, "Hey, I didn't know that guy could act!". He was briefly in SW 1 but wasn't allowed to do any acting. It was funny at the time. George Lucas has that effect on actors I guess. THE LIMEY is a top notch British gangster story of a different kind and fortunately for us it's been treated with class, dignity and humor by director Steven Soderbergh. Fun stuff. Check it out.