The first shot -- Terence Stamp tying his tie as the image comes gradually into focus and The Who's "The Seeker" revs up -- is as striking as any Steven Soderbergh ever forged, and a hundred no less snazzy follow it. The admitted influences are Boorman and Resnais, others include Mike Hodges, Cervantes, and Harry Callahan's color photography. Stamp is a trim Cockney specter, just out of jail and landing in Los Angeles to avenge his late daughter, a wayward bird "with fondness for dangerous men." The editing achieves a cubist effect to reflect the fractured mind, and to set off the occasional remarkable long-take: Following a beating from a gang of hoods, the protagonist rises from his ashes, produces…

A deliberately paced, fantastically edited crime film that's less about committing the crime and more about the consequences of it. Terrence Stamp is the standout as a charming, yet terrifying recent parolee out to find and avenge his daughter's murder. With the majority of the main cast over 40, the age of all the participants gives more weight and weariness to their stories, as we see each of them clinging to the past in different ways. Stamp's works best, with his revenge keyed by the future he feels he's had stolen from him, and his past, highlighted with scenes from Ken Loach's Poor Cow, mirrors Peter Fonda's in interesting ways. The true star is the style, though. With the nonlinear…

The first shot -- Terence Stamp tying his tie as the image comes gradually into focus and The Who's "The Seeker" revs up -- is as striking as any Steven Soderbergh ever forged, and a hundred no less snazzy follow it. The admitted influences are Boorman and Resnais, others include Mike Hodges, Cervantes, and Harry Callahan's color photography. Stamp is a trim Cockney specter, just out of jail and landing in Los Angeles to avenge his late daughter, a wayward bird "with fondness for dangerous men." The editing achieves a cubist effect to reflect the fractured mind, and to set off the occasional remarkable long-take: Following a beating from a gang of hoods, the protagonist rises from his ashes, produces…

(Reposted from Soderbergh review series)

After the critical (not necessarily commercial, even though it’s a film that I doubt anyone couldn’t love) success of Out of Sight, Steven Soderbergh still needed to prove that his comeback wasn’t just a fluke. As described in his book Getting Away with it, his next project, The Limey, would be “Get Carter as directed by Alain Resnais.” And it would prove to be just as big of a success with critics, although even less so with audiences this time. It’s high on the list of his very best films, an elliptical masterpiece which doesn’t let its structure overwhelm the emotions at its heart.

Wilson (Terence Stamp) is a British thief who has just gotten…

The editing style is what I'll remember most about this movie. The way he intercuts flashbacks with audio from the present, as well as the quick cuts to emphasize an important scene (like Wilson's long monologue with the DEA's boss).

The plot is really pretty simple, but the writer embellished with many more characters and subplots, that I thought weren't really needed. The whole DEA subplot went nowhere. I don't think we needed to add 2 crazy lowlife killers (Stacy and friend) to the mix. And I didn't really care about Terry and Adhara.

But I loved everything about Terence Stamp. I had never really seen Stamp in a starring role, so I was impressed by how well he performed…