Review of The Limey (1999) by Stuart K — 19 Jun 2012

After finally hitting the mainstream with Out Of Sight (1998), but before finding Oscar glory with Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000), Steven Soderbergh did this low-budget but very effective crime drama.

It showcases a fantastic lead performance from one of England's best actors, who gives one of his best performances. It also harks back to the crime dramas of the 1970's, which were similar in look to this.

Wilson (Terence Stamp) has just done a stretch in prison in England, but he's recently been released and he's gone over to Los Angeles after he hears that his daughter Jenny (Melissa George) was killed in a car accident.

Wilson received the bad news in a letter from Eduardo Roel (Luis Guzmán), who tells Wilson that Jenny was shacked up with record producer Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda). Something doesn't seem right about how Jenny died, so Wilson investigates further, and it takes him to actress Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren), who with Eduardo, is able to get him close to Valentine, but not for long.

Valentine see's that Wilson is after him, and wants answers, so he goes on the run to Big Sur, but Wilson is hot on his tail. It's a suspenseful crime drama, very well made, and it makes good use of sparse, run-down areas of Los Angeles that you seldom see on film.

Stamp is terrific as Wilson, speaking in Cockney slang that perplexes everyone he's talking to, with flashbacks to a younger Stamp in Ken Loach's Poor Cow (1967), while it's good to see Fonda as a baddie, with appearances from cult 70's actors like Barry Newman and Joe Dallesandro.