I finally saw The Limey.
It's a neat little picture, stylish if not terribly substantive, buoyed by two outstanding performances (Stamp and Fonda). Toss in an excellent supporting cast that rises above their poorly defined and often extraneous roles and some gorgeous landscape and really, what's not to like?
For those of you who have somehow missed the many conversations we've had here, Stamp plays Wilson, a career criminal and recent ex-con, who has just learned of his daughter's death in a car crash. He finds the explanation suspicious, and is determined to get to the bottom of the story and extract revenge. The target of his ire is the daughter's last boyfriend, Terry Valentine (Fonda), an aging record producer who lives off his past reputation and the reflection he sees in the eyes of whatever arm candy he's acquired for the month, who made the mistake of assuming that Stamp's little girl was as brainless as his usual model. You can pretty much take it from there. Not much sex (no naked Stamp, alas), and not too much violence onscreen.
Barry Newman has an excellent part as a security consultant or lawyer (it was never clear), and he's another guy whose past roles resonate to good use in this film. Nice to see him still working.
None of the other supporting characters save the current bimbo have any believable reason for inclusion in the story, which is probably the film's most serious flaw. I particularly objected to a nutty comic gunman. Utterly useless, even though he has one screamingly funny monologue and is quite goodlooking. (that his henchman has even less reason for being goes without saying)
Still, this is a movie worth watching if only for the phenomenal work of Stamp and Fonda. Stamp was robbed of an Oscar nomination last year, and Fonda is possibly just a shade better than that. A few comments for those who have seen the film.
* I thought the ending was entirely apt.
* The commentary (which I haven't finished yet) mentions that the writer (Dobbs) was the person who thought of Fonda for the Valentine role, but Soderberg thought he'd be all wrong until he went to lunch with him--and came back a convert.
* The line about "I learned to skate when I was 12" was adlibbed by Fonda, and after the shot was over he explained that his parents had him taught by Sonja Henie.
* Barry Newman did the majority of his driving--he's been interested ever since The Vanishing Point.
* I believe the nutty gunman's monologue was scripted--the commentary didn't say otherwise, and they mentioned other adlib points.
* I agree that the bimbo is a better version of Denise Richards.
* Stamp, like Vanessa Redgrave, has become almost impossibly beautiful. Why is it that some people age as if they were sculpted?
