REVOLVER - Blu-ray review

"The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look." -- Julius Caesar

At first glance, "Revolver" has the makings of a typical gangster film, teeming with well-dressed tough guys having reputations as swindlers, crime lords, hitmen, and loan sharks. But then the movie takes a sudden left turn and begins to evolve, or at least tries to, into something much more cerebral, as the story almost becomes a game itself--held together by a underlying theme of casinos, chess, and cons.

Jason Statham ("The Transporter," "Crank") plays Jake Green, a hotshot hustler who has just been sprung from the slammer. Rather than brooding over the last seven years of his life locked away in solitary confinement, Jake spent most of the time studying a masterful manipulation formula developed by fellow unseen inmates. Statham is almost unrecognizable, shedding his usual stubbly close-shaven appearance for a well-groomed goatee and a full flowing mane of hair. I thought it worked well for him, and it's nice to see him finally change his typecast thuggish look.

Jake decides to try out his new system by heading down to one of the casinos owned by a former acquaintance, Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta), a merciless crime boss with one huge chip on his shoulder, likely stemming from the name printed on his birth certificate. Macha doesn't exactly harness any of the skill or finesse that Jake has mastered over the years, but he usually comes out on top anyway as his position of power pretty much seals the deal whenever it comes to gambling. However, when Jake shows up and takes Macha to the cleaners in a basic game of chance, it's no real surprise that all hell breaks loose. Infuriated by the embarrassing loss, the ruthless Macha aims to get even by putting a hit out on Jake.

Liotta plays the ironfisted wise guy part well, especially in films like "Goodfellas," and it certainly comes through here in his Macha character. What makes it unique and even more interesting is that Macha brings along a few silly eccentricities like sleeping in a hair net and using full body tanning rooms (that's right, four-walled rooms and not the more common tanning beds) to add a somewhat twisted layer of humor.

Just as a gunfight ensues to take Jake down, he's rescued by a couple of mysterious loan sharks who introduce themselves as Avi (André Benjamin) and Zach (Vincent Pastore). Benjamin does a solid job at being slick and suave, although Pastore doesn't stray far from his Big Pussy role from the "Sopranos." Of course, saving Jake's neck has a price, and the duo force him to aid in their shady business practices using his own cache of cash. Jake has no choice in the matter, either, as they play a pivotal card that literally holds his life in their hands.

The cinematography in the film is breathtakingly beautiful, with all of the scenes being stylish and classy. I can't say there were any dull moments in the storyline, either. In fact, one of my favorite scenes came from this film, when the "Sorter," a hitman played by Mark Strong, has a change of heart and takes care of business in an almost operatic bloodbath. Two things irked me about the film, though, and unfortunately they were significant enough blunders that can't be saved by one memorable scene and, therefore, affected my overall impression of the film.

My first issue was with some of writer/director Guy Ritchie's haphazard creative liberties, which ruined most of the experience for me. I didn't like the way some scenes played out, rewinding and replaying over again like some sort of trigger-happy commentator from a televised sporting event. I also couldn't find a way to get past how smack dab in the middle and completely out of the blue, a brief animation sequence manages to hijack the movie. I have nothing against animation, and the anime in "Revolver" was certainly eye-catching, but it just didn't belong and felt like it was ripping off the origin of O-Ren Ishii seen in "Kill Bill."

The other part that could have used more attention was the clarity of the story itself. In the special features, Ritchie does shed light on the concept of the movie and even mentions a few times that they were concerned they didn't want to reveal too much to make it blatantly obvious, but sadly the reality is Ritchie ended up overcompensating for this so much that the end result was more puzzling than it should have been. I think the main problem is that the cast and crew had an idea what was going on in their minds because they had scripts in hand and Ritchie on set to explain everything to them, but the rest of the world isn't as fortunate. We have to see the story unfold before our eyes, and in a thought-provoking film such as "Revolver," it's important to connect all the dots. Miss one, and not only will things start to unravel by throwing the viewer off track, the viewer won't be able to recover as the story disintegrates.

Video:
Sony delivers "Revolver" in high-definition on a BD-50 (MPEG-2 video codec), presented in widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Sometimes the picture is sharply detailed with bold coloring, and when Avi is savoring the crisp new money you can now clearly see that he's holding a $12 bill--which is amusing. Other times, the image appears a bit soft and muted, and there are also a few scenes where the black levels are slightly faded. I didn't pick up on any noise, but I did catch the odd white speck from time to time, too. So in short, while I was thoroughly impressed with the picture quality of the DVD, the Blu-ray didn't really "wow" me like I thought it would.

Audio:
The audio on the other hand, is definitely a step up over the DVD version. The disc utilizes lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks in English and French--delivering an impressive surround experience. The bells and whistles of slot machines, a hailstorm of bullets, and a roaring overhead train are just a handful of the sounds that fill the room creating a pleasing atmosphere. Also in my DVD review, I mentioned Statham's narration came off a hair muffled and difficult to understand at times, but here it was much clearer. I just wish the video had been a significant upgrade like the audio. Also available are optional subtitles in English, English SDH, and French.

Extras:
The Blu-ray version of "Revolver" includes most of the bonus features found on the DVD. I think the only thing missing here is the photo gallery--which wasn't all that interesting anyways.

First up is a feature-length "Commentary with Writer/Director Guy Ritchie and Editor James Herbert" that viewers can access at their leisure. It contains the usual production anecdotes, and I found it particularly interesting how they used actual historical masters' games during the chess scenes to validate Jake Green's skill. Ritchie also thoroughly dissects the concept of the film here, so for those who get completely lost by the story, the commentary really helps clear up loose ends.

There are seven Deleted and Extended Scenes: "Alternate Opening Sequence," "Extended Chess Game," "White Knickers," "Extended Rooftop Golf," "Alternate Lord John Assassination," "Extended Elevator," and "Alternate Ending." Most of them are unfinished with green screens still visible in the background, and they don't require much explanation since nearly all of them have an introduction by Guy Ritchie.

Next, there's a short reel of Outtakes that lasts approximately four minutes. It's mostly your typical goofs and blown lines, although the end was pretty hilarious seeing how Vincent Pastore and André Benjamin kept repeatedly fumbling in the golf scene and had to keep starting over.

"The Game: The Making of Revolver" is about twenty-five minutes long, a documentary covering the characters, the story, and other production details for the film.

"Revolver: Making the Music" is a short featurette explaining the score for the movie. It goes into great detail on why they went with the music they chose, how it was compiled for each scene, and such.

After that comes "The Concept: An Interview with Guy Ritchie and Editor James Herbert." Just like the commentary, this feature focuses heavily on the concept of the story, just a more straightforward and condensed version.

Finally, there are a few high-definition previews (and these trailers also autoplay on startup): "Blu-ray Disc is High Definition," "Hancock," "Casino Royale: Collector's Edition," and "21."

As with most Sony Blu-rays, this release is also BD-Live enabled, but I can't comment on this feature since my player is only profile 1.1 compliant.

The Final Cut:
"Revolver" had the potential to be a mind-blowing blockbuster of a movie sitting pretty for an Oscar or two. It boasts a solid cast, has visually stunning cinematography, and for the most part a solid story element. Where it failed was Ritchie's artistic vision suddenly veering off into all kinds of crazy tangents, and while the ending brought most of it together, a lot of viewers will still find themselves completely lost by the cryptic and confusing storyline.