英国佬

《英国佬》是一部剧情、悬疑、惊悚和犯罪元素融合的电影。该片以韦氏辞书中“Limey”的解释之一“英国水手”为背景，讲述了一个倔强的英国人威尔森来到洛杉矶，为自己的爱女复仇的故事。

威尔森曾经是一名水手，他的坚韧和决心使得他在洛杉矶追寻复仇的道路上不停前行。电影的名字“Limey”恰如其分地揭示了主人公在洛杉矶的状态，他因为恼怒和复仇而迷失了自己。

斯蒂芬·索德伯赫的作品以其独特的叙事方式和紧张的剧情著称。《英国佬》也不例外，影片通过扣人心弦的悬疑和惊悚元素，将观众带入了一个充满危险和谜团的世界。

威尔森的角色由一位出色的演员扮演，他将这个角色演绎得淋漓尽致。观众可以感受到威尔森内心的愤怒和坚毅，以及他对复仇的渴望。这位英国佬的形象给人留下了深刻的印象。

总的来说，《英国佬》是一部扣人心弦的电影，它将观众带入了一个充满悬疑和惊悚的世界。威尔森的复仇之旅不仅展现了他的坚韧和决心，也让观众思考了复仇的意义和代价。这部电影不仅仅是一部犯罪故事，更是一部关于人性和正义的探索。

Shortly after rubbing elbows with mainstream taste with the slick criminal adventure OUT OF SIGHT (1998) and before hitting the jackpot with his one-two punch in 2000, ERIN BROCKOVICH and TRAFFIC, Steven Soderbergh knocks out a little gem called THE LIMEY, starring a stern Terence Stamp as the titular loner, Wilson, a British hardened criminal freshly out of the joint, who lends his feet in Los Angelos and beats the bushes about the sudden death of his daughter Jenny (George), presumably perished in a car accident, but a father, even an absent one, knows better.

After getting pally with Jenny’s friend Eduardo (Guzmán) and Elaine (Warren), with latter, a tangible romantic tinkling never really takes off, soon Wilson pins down the obvious suspect, Terry Valentine (Fonda), as Jenny’s much elder boyfriend, a high-flying record producer who also partakes in the drug trafficking goings-on, Terry is the sole target in Wilson’s revenge plan. Unconventionally, Soderbergh’s script goes against the grain to make Terry not a tough monster, but a feckless, narcissistic slouch, for one thing, audience has no illusion that he is the match of the hard-bitten Wilson, played by Fonda with a semblance of roué eccentricity and cravenness, which makes the final revelation and Wilson’s action more plausible and humane, pointing up a father’s ultimate guilt of obliquely but fatally damaging his daughter’s life with his irresponsible acts.

Footage of Ken Loach’s first feature film POOR COW (1967), starring Terence Stamp and Carol White, is seamlessly integrated as the flashback of Wilson’s recollections of his past. Stamp retains his usual coolness and can bite the bullet of taking a solid beating before running amok, but also effortlessly elicits levity in the face of the DEA officer (a cameo from an unruffled Bill Duke), by magnifying the mockney accent and running away with it in sheer alacrity.

That said, THE LIMEY, more than anything, shows up Soderbergh’s novel modality of tinkering its chronological narratology with asynchronous editing stratagem (courtesy to editor Sarah Flack), more often than not, the imagery lags behind the character’s line delivery, and rapid montage-shifting blurs the temporal designation, not to a confusing effect, but gives audience pause for a double take, for example, the repeated shots of Wilson sitting inside an airliner with a beam of sunshine tangentially bisecting his visage pose the question that is the flight inbound or outbound? All depends on whether his inscrutable expression suggests suppressed rage or stolid reconciliation.

For what it is worth, THE LIMEY is Soderbergh’s dry run of his experiment on gingering up the narrative with pyrotechnic editing flourishes, which will culminate in TRAFFIC’s trifurcated storylines one year later, a must-see for his votaries, or Mr. Stamp’s usual stanners.

referential entries: Soderbergh’s OUT OF SIGHT (1998, 7.1/10), TRAFFIC (2000, 8.3/10);Jonathan Glazer’s SEXY BEAST (2000, 7.4/10).