The Limey (1999)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Film Review

Steven Soderbergh's attempts to acquire some measure of serious auteur legitimacy by taking a mediocre revenge thriller and giving it the full Nouvelle Vague treatment are well-meant but only partially successful.  The Limey may rate as one of Soderbergh's more daring cinematic exploits but its lack of substance renders its fancy cinematic artistry pretty redundant and the film fails to have anything like the impact it should, given the pedigree of its director and principal cast.  In a memorably tough and intense screen portrayal, Terence Stamp gives the film most of its punch, whilst Soderbergh allows his generally solid mise-en-scène to be cut (literally) to pieces by some arty-farty editing which does its best to disguise the vacuity of the plot.  Despite its self-conscious artiness, The Limey still manages to be a darkly compelling film, mainly on the strength of Stamp's brooding presence and some impressively feisty contributions from Lesley Ann Warren and Peter Fonda.  Stamp's cockney rhyming slang soon becomes as irritating as the needlessly sliced-and-diced narrative structure, but Soderbergh's flair for visual storytelling just about wins the day.

Film Synopsis

As soon as he has been released from prison, small-time London hoodlum Wilson takes the plane to Los Angeles, determined to find the man who killed his daughter Jenny.  The trail leads to Jenny's former boyfriend, a sleazy record producer named Terry Valentine.  Aware that Wilson poses a threat to his illegal drugs dealing activities, Valentine instructs his henchmen to deal with him.  Far from dissuading Wilson, this roughing up merely confirms his suspicions that he is on the right track.  Convinced that Valentine murdered his daughter, Wilson follows him to his safe house in Big Sur, intent on exacting a suitable form of vengeance...