Revolver

I know it may seem a little late (about three years) to be writing a review for this film. However, I've gathered through extensive research, that many people probably never knew this film had ever been made or released. With that being known, I feel that I might be a little too early. It doesn't really matter, though. I don't plan to write a review for the Guy Ritchie film, Revolver. My goal here is to share with you a psychological experience I've endured over the past week because, of course, of this film. I must warn you, though, that what I write in the proceeding paragraphs may be correctly or incorrectly construed as being filled with spoilers. If you have seen this movie, feel free to delight yourself with reading what I have to write. If you haven't seen this movie and have absolutely no intention of doing so, please read along and this might act as a persuasive trigger for you to see this film. If you haven't seen the film, but want to, please watch the film and come back to this page afterwards. For all the skimmers out there, the following line is for you.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

I got this film on DVD as a gift from my sister last week. --Thank you, Becky.-- I watched the film for the first time the day I got it and I was basically confused, bothered, sickened and challenged psychologically. I had no idea if I had hated it or if I had loved it. To keep you on the same page, I'll give you a short synopsis. Basically, the story begins with the release of a conman, Jake Green (Jason Statham), from a seven year solitary confinement sentence. Upon his release, he visits the casino owned by Dorothy (Mr. D) Macha, the very powerful gangster responsible for Jake's term. Jake, then, beats him in a game of chance and Macha can not face the fact that there is a free man capable of beating him. Macha, then puts a hit out on him and his survival is dependent upon two loan sharks, Avi (Andre Benjamin) and Zack (Vincent Pastore).

The two loan sharks explain to Green that they have copies of his medical records and that it reveals that he will die in three days from a terminal blood disease. For saving Green's life, they explain that he must give them every penny he has and he immediately begins to think they're extorting him. He is, afterall, a conman himself. After he realizes their story is true, he feels he has no other option but to trust them.

The story continues and these loansharks force Green to commit acts against Macha that inconvenience Macha and embarass him in front of an unseen evil force throughout the movie, Sam Gold. Basically, Green and the two loansharks con Macha and Macha's rival, Lord John, into thinking that they are being set up by one another, inevitably leading to the brutal destruction of most of their crews.

Macha later becomes aware that it had been Green all along. At the same time, Green finds out that Zack and Avi are the two men he had indirectly met during his seven year run in solitary confinement, the two men who had constructed an ingenius theory and formula for the perfect con. They then reveal to Green that his worst enemy was his own ego and that all of what was happening was a result of him trying to rid his own ego.

I don't want to go into much greater detail, so I'll refrain from doing so. I'll let you find out more by watching the film. The point I wish to stress is that, the first time I had watched the film, I was under the impression that it would be of the same formula which Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch were made from and that this film was just not constructed as well. The second time I watched the film, however, I watched it with Guy Ritchie's commentary and he reveals so much that I hadn't seen before. It was as if the real film was hidden behind another and, not only were the characters in the film being conned, but the audience viewing the film were, as well. I must admit that I still don't understand the film 100 %. I doubt I ever will. I do, however, have a much better understanding of the film now and it saddens me when I read reviews stating that the film is "pretentious". It just reminds me that many people discount merit-worthy art due to their own intellectual lackings.

This film is actually a first and last of its kind and, though I like a lot of what Ritchie has done, I was really surprised that he would be the creator of this genre. This film tells a great deal about the ego within everyone and how it can play as a person's worst possible enemy. It also is interesting knowing that the entire film is a metaphor for something so much greater than what its surface shows. Watching the journey of a man trying to defeat an enemy he can't see and then finding out it's in him the entire time is a wonderfully challenging psychological experience. It's okay to dislike this movie, but I would definitely recommend watching this film, keeping all of what I've mentioned in mind.