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General Zod, or as he’s commonly referred to in Europe, Terence Stamp, is Wilson, the above mentioned ex-con. He’s English, as you may or may not have guessed from the title. He’s old. He’s in L.A. L.A.’s a weird place, especially for an old English guy. He needs a guide. He hooks up with Ed, played by the ever reliable Luis Guzman.

Ed was a friend of his daughter’s, and also the guy who wrote to him in England about her death. Supposedly she fell asleep at the wheel and drove over a cliff. Wilson doesn’t buy it. He thinks her boyfriend at the time, hot shot record producer Terry Valentine, killed her, and he wants to return the favor.

One of the first things you notice about the film, is the unique way it was cut. You can tell the editor had some fun on this one. During a lot of the dialogue scenes, there are long overlaps between what you’re hearing and what the characters are actually doing, and often times it’s intercut with images of the characters from different points in the story, or in Wilson’s case, different points in his life.
The cool thing is, Soderbergh didn’t go find some schmuck who kinda looked like Terence Stamp to play Wilson in the flashback scenes, he actually used Stamp. He bought the rights to an English movie from 1967 called “Poor Cow,” where Stamp played a young thief by the name of Wilson. Portions of the film were then edited into “The Limey,” and we’re not talking Ed Wood style. It’s almost like the crew went back in time to shoot it, it fits in perfectly with the story and makes the character that much more real. Maybe that kind of thing has been done before, maybe not, all I know is that it is some truly kickass, creative filmmaking.

Performance wise, everybody’s good, except in Fonda’s case, he’s great. Henry Fonda *is* Valentine. The guy doesn’t even seem to be acting. He’s like an older, post-yuppie version of Wyatt from Easy Rider. The guy still even bumps The Byrds, but this time instead of a Chopper he rolls a Benz. Fonda brings a genuine warmth to a character you can’t help but like, you almost forget he’s the antagonist.

Stamp is solid too, but in a different way, you can tell he’s acting, and doing a damn fine job of it. Plus, for such an old timer, he kicks some serious tail. Aaahh, the Juice Tiger!

The other noteworty performances are those of Guzman and Nicky Katt as Stacey, a hitman for hire and fan of observational humor.

The whole British guy in L.A./ fish out of water thing sets the stage for some funny moments, particularly when no one understands what the bloody hell Wilson is saying because the geezer starts talking in that weird English english. There’s a scene like that between him and Bill “You know you done fucked up” Duke, that’s better than a night on the razz.

If you have a chance still, get an eyeful of “The Limey” on the big screen, but if not, rent the video you toe-rag, or I’ll have your guts for garters. (And P.S.-The poster kicks ass!!!)

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originally posted: 12/12/99 07:07:30
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