Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

I'm sure many will disagree with me, but Guy Ritchie's first two features are magnificent. LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and SNATCH may not have reinvented the British crime drama, but they gave the genre a much-needed kick in the bollocks. We'll not mention SWEPT AWAY, but his latest entry sees Ritchie back in familiar territory: sharp suits, flash cars, threats of violence and Jason Statham. And for at least the first half of REVOLVER (kept from prying American eyes for more than two years, and now unceremoniously dumped into theaters just before the year ends), you'll find it very easy to settle back and take in the stunning camera work and sharp script that Ritchie has fashioned.

A groovy cast with such people as Andre Benjamin, Vincent Pastore and honey-entrepreneur Ray Liotta in full crazy-man mode all slash through this story of Jake Green (Statham), who has just been released from prison after seven years. The underworld is abuzz at the news, especially when Jake begins winning all kinds of money gambling. Turns out he learned a fool-proof formula for winning from two prisoners he met (but never saw) in solitary confinement. Jake's personal mission is to take revenge on Liotta's Macha character by getting all his money. After humiliating Macha at the tables, Jake becomes a target, but Macha has his own problems when he loses drugs belonging to his silent and unseen business partner, Sam Gold. This all probably sounds kind of confusing, and the truth is, REVOLVER's plot doesn't really matter. What does matter and what will determine whether you decide to trust Ritchie ever again with your hard-earned dollars is the film's second half, which completely changes gears and goes from a somewhat-familiar crime drama to being a shot-out-a-canon psychological mindfuck.

I'm still not sure what I think of Ritchie's approach to this material. In theory and, to a degree, in practice, it worked. Thankfully, Statham is a solid enough actor to pull this off; some might have botched what is required of his character. But Ritchie might be asking too much of us once the nuttiness begins. It is best that I don't say too much more about this section of the film. Go in unsuspecting and just let the chaos unfold. But some of you might feel like Ritchie has sucker punched your mother when the film is through, and depending on how you feel about your mother, you may not be happy with this turn of events. Whatever my final analysis of REVOLVER is (today, I'm liking it; tomorrow, I may not), I am genuinely excited Ritchie is back on track as a director, and I'm excited to see his next film, ROCKNROLLA, with Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Jeremy Piven, Mark Strong and Thandie Newton. But REVOLVER needs to be looked at as something of an ambitious, although not entirely successful, experiment.

Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com