This is not your typical Guy Ritchie flick, in some ways it’s better and in others it’s not. Revolver stars familiar Ritchie muse Jason Statham as Jake Green, a gambler recently released from prison after a seven-year stint that has everything to do with casino owner and low-life criminal Macha, played brilliantly by Ray Liotta. Determined to get some measure of revenge, Green takes Macha for a healthy load of money in a single gambling session, but later loses all of it when a failed hit, courtesy of Macha, sends Green to mysterious loan sharks Avi, played by Andre Benjamin of Outkast fame, and Zach, played by Vincent Pastore, for salvation.
The loan sharking duo claims to know how to keep Green alive, and they keep to their word but there’s a price to pay. In return, Green’s saviors demand not just all of Green’s gambling winnings, but for him to accompany them on their daily loan sharking activities. Which, in either a bit of mean spiritedness or a con Green can’t quite figure out, Avi and Zach are using Green’s own money to loan out, and are using him to literally hand the cash over. It’s a terrible thing to do to a gambler in love with his winnings, and something Green spends a great deal of time talking to himself about.
One of the first thing you’ll notice about Revolver is the lack of Ritchi’es signature cinematic tricks. If you love Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, the overall lack of slow-motion, bullet-time, and other assorted editing gimmicks in Revolver will seem almost unnatural. Revolver is clearly an attempt by Ritchie to shake his own image, although the script (also written by Ritchie) would seem to indicate that this is, nevertheless, still very much a “Guy Ritchie flick