I first watched this film when it came out, 1999, and did not find it particularly memorable, apart from Stamp's steely performance, Fonda's sleazy character, and the film's conclusion.I watched it again on 12 January 2018 and I have to own up to the fact that I must have been less than attentive when I first watched it. This time, I found the acting excellent across the board, the script far more interesting than I remembered, photography highly effective and economical, action sequences quite riveting, and director Steven Soderbergh to be in inspired form, even in his judicious use of flashbacks.Do not take me wrong, THE LIMEY is not a masterpiece - and never purports to be anything even close. It is just a film well aware of its limitations, and highly credible because of that.

This thriller might seem like some to be a simple remake of GET CARTER - but it's a lot more than that. Director Steven Soderbergh shoots his film in an unusual, unique way. Whereas most films follow a simple, chronologically-bound linear narrative (i.e. events happen after each other as time progresses), this film has scenes following a vaguely "diagonal" pattern - what I'm trying to say is that one scene plays out, then we have flashbacks and flash-forwards into the past and future, always going back to the same scene again. While this might sound confusing to watch, you get used to it quickly and realise how brilliant and disconcerting it is. Soderbergh also overlaps his dialogue from scene to scene which make the film even more interesting to watch.While the plot is nothing new, the actors invest it with a real dynamite chemistry, a film to watch spellbound from start to finish. Terence Stamp is absolutely superb as the Cockney gangster, muttering rhyming slang and uttering such class lines as "Tell them I'm coming!", and gives a moving portrayal of a past-it hard man coming to terms with the cruel, modern world. We really get inside this guy's head. On the other hand, Peter Fonda is also good as Stamp's nemesis, a weak music producer hiding behind bodyguards and agents to protect himself. Barry Newman also pops up as Fonda's right-hand man to deliver a tough performance.One classy scene has Stamp beaten to a pulp by thugs - only to return moments later to butcher them all in a bloody shootout. This is shot atypically from what you might expect by reading that description, as to add more impact the camera stays OUTSIDE the building while this happens! Other twists include a bodyguard being thrown over some railings in the background, whereas most flicks would shoot this in close-up. It's touches like these which help breathe new life into the stale thriller and make this instead an intelligent, thought-provoking drama. The only complaint I would have with this film is that it feels a little too short. Watch it and enjoy!

This is the oft repeated line intoned due to the wonderfully staccato'd editing that makes this creative endeavour less a crime film, and more a recursive lesson in retroactive visual memory. This is probably one of the best films ever edited. If crime films are not your cup of tea, you need to watch it just for the editing alone. Sarah Flack is credited as editor, but apparently genius director Steven Soderbergh was not happy with her generic work and changed it to its eventual lyrically beautiful structure. In any case, It's always hard to know where an editor's input ends and the supervising director's effort begins.As to the Plot, it is pretty simple. A British Woman dies in America and her Father, an East End Gangster "Wilson", played by the always roguish Terence Stamp (his first name is never mentioned), goes on the warpath to find and throttle whoever was responsible. A straight forward cut and dry revenge film, but this is one of those wonderful gestalt films that is greater than the sum of its simplistic parts.Forever beautiful Lesley Ann Warren provides a soft touch to Stamp's hard edged tough guy, while Luis Guzmán brings local flavor to the set.This is an excellent revenge film that builds to a surprising climax. Unfortunately for Superman fans, this doesn't arrive in the form of Terence Stamp holding a gun to someone's head and demanding them to "Kneel before Zod". Nevertheless The Limey has a great ending anyway, that I'll not give away.

A phrase I have used before in these 'ere reviews is 'there's less to this than meets the eye, and risking devaluing it through overuse I'll use it again about The Limey as it sums the film up extremely well. Stephen Soderbergh is a darling director of cineastes and for all I know he was attempting something far more subtle than what we are ostensibly presented with. If so, it was far, far too subtle for this viewer. I read elsewhere that The Limey is a Soderbergh meditation on retirement, but I don't got for that at all. The Limey is, to be blunt, a straightforward account of how Terence Stamp's limey ex-con travels to Los Angeles to seek revenge for the murder of his daughter.Why he had decided it was murder - it was, of course, because this is Hollywood life not real life - is never made clear at all. All in all The Limey is a somewhat banal and unconvincing thriller about a man taking his revenge, but Soderbergh attempts to raise it to a higher plain with the use of artsy-fartsy editing. It doesn't come off. The Limey is by no means bad, but neither is it much of an interesting film either. Go and see it by all means as it is entertaining enough, but there are enough films with the same theme as this which are, quite simply, better, artsy-fartsy editing or no artsy-fartsy editing. I might well have missed the point, but if I have, I suspect the point didn't really amount to a row of beans, and, anyway, I really don't care.