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Dom Robinson reviews
Film Four
- Cert:
- Cat.no: VCD 0043
- Running time: 85 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 17 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Behind the Scenes, 2 Audio Commentaries,Cast & Crew Interviews, Isolated Music Score
Director:
- Steven Soderbergh
(Gray’s Anatomy, Kafka, King of the Hill, The Limey, Schizopolis, sex lies and videotape, The Underneath, YES 9012 Live)
Producer:
- John Hardy and Scott Kramer
Screenplay:
- Lem Dobbs
Music:
- Cliff Martinez
Cast:
- Wilson: Terence Stamp (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Alien Nation, Bowfinger, Hud, Legal Eagles, The Limey, Red Planet, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Superman 1 & 2, Wall Street, Young Guns,TV: The Hunger)
Elaine: Lesley Ann Warren (Burglar, Choose Me, Desperate Justice, Going All the Way, The Limey, Love Kills, Pure Country)
Ed: Luis Guzman (The Hard Way, The Limey, The Substitute, TV: Oz)
Avery: Barry Newman (The Limey, Vanishing Point)
Valentine: Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Escape from LA, The Limey, Love and a .45, Nadja, Ulee’s Gold)
The Limeyis a simple film starring Terence Stamp as Wilson, a man who travels from Englandto Los Angeles to find out what happened to his daughter Jennifer (Melissa George,aka Angel in Home and Away, who is only shown in photos and silent video footage)and why she died.
Over there he chats to her best friend Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) and Ed (LuisGuzman), who has some information, which leads him to Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda)and his gorgeous girlfriend, Adhara (Amelia Heinle, who resembles Denise Richardsat times). An early encounter gives Wilson the chance to exact justice but in a very publicway. Thankfully, he chooses not to so the film can run its full length.
I’ll say no more so you can find out for yourself how the situation pans out, although Iwill give a mention to the hand-held shakey camerawork sometimes used. Another techniqueis that as conversations mention other people, footage featuring those are dropped in topunctuate the piece and there are many quick-cut moments used, all to good effect.
The picture quality is typical of most VCI releases: an anamorphic print,here in a 16:9 ratio, but it has a tinge of fuzziness in certain scenes, mostlyones earlier on. The average bitrate is a superb 8.3Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s.
The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is fine, but is mainly used for justdialogue and atmosphere, with some tunes dropped in from time to time.
Extras : Chapters :17 chapters, 16 for the film and one separate for the end credits. Languages/Subtitles :English Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English for the hard of hearing. And there’s more… :First off is the Theatrical Trailer. Then comes 12 minutes of Cast & CrewInterviews, featuring Stamp, although they’re more like brief soundbites lasting nomore than a minute per topic.
The Behind the Scenes section is a 7-minute featurette containing shots of workin progress on-set with no dialogue, just the backdrop of Cliff Martinez‘s score,which you can hear all of in the Isolated Music Score.
The package is nicely rounded off with two feature-length Audio Commentaries,one from the film’s director and writer and the other featuring Stamp and Fonda.
Menu :Silent with a shot of Terence Stamp and subtle movement of a gun’s shadow moving acrosshis face, plus the basic options.
Overall, this is a fairly decent film, but no-one really stretches themself and Stampoverplays his cockney accent. The disc has some decent extras, but I’d recommend a rentalfirst before committing to a purchase.
What I want to know is, why isn’t the tagline used, “Tell Him I’m Coming” ?That’s what he says in the film.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLCheck outVCI‘s andFilm Four‘sWeb siteand the officialThe LimeyWeb site.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.