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Directed by - Steven Soderbergh

Starring – Terence Stamp (Wilson), Lesley Ann Warren (Elaine), Luis Guzman (Eduardo Roel), Barry Newman (Jim Avery), Peter Fonda (Terry Valentine), Nicky Katt (Stacy), Amelia Heinle (Adhara), Melissa George (Jenny)

Length – 85 minutes

Cert – 18 / R

Even before Out of Sight was released, director Steven Soderbergh was already planning on directing The Limey by writer Lem Dobbs, who had just received rave reviews for his previous film Dark City. They both followed up with a somewhat simple story of a British "career criminal" avenging the death of his daughter.

Wilson (Stamp) has just been released from prison. The first thing he does is fly to LA to investigate the death of his daughter Jenny (George). One of her friends, Eduardo (Guzman), had written to Wilson about her death while he was in jail. Although she reportedly died in a car accident, Wilson thinks otherwise. He doesn't know who exactly is responsible, but it doesn't take him long to assume that a record producer she was seeing, Terry Valentine (Fonda), must have something to do with it. It also doesn't take him long to get a hold of some guns... from teenagers.

Soderbergh is not one to stick to convention (unless he's directing a sequel). What has to be admired is his choosing to take risks (some of which don't always pay off), as seen with improvised "experiments" Full Frontal and Bubble. He is also one of few directors that haven't been shoehorned-in, instead taking on wildly different genres. Soderbergh is teaming up with Dobbs once again for an action thriller titled Knockout. With its threatening fish out of overseas water scenario, The Limey could have bulked up and blockbusted its way as a mainstream release under a different director. Instead Soderbergh keeps everything about it plain and simple, which is kind of a double-edged sword in this instance.

At 59-years-old during filming, Terence Stamp manages to look exceptionally cool. His character Wilson has nothing to lose and is simply on a one track mind to find out who killed his daughter. Wilson's use of English rhyming slang is a curious addition ("I'll have a butcher's around the house."). Of course not everyone in England uses rhyming slang, but it makes for a welcome annoyance when he has to explain each one for the American audience. His conversation with a Drug Enforcement Administration agent (Bill Duke in an uncredited appearance) is the highlight of the film, which also explains Wilson and Valentine's concluding confrontation.

Lem Dobbs' writing is commendable. When Valentine's bodyguard Avery (Newman) asks paltry hitman Stacy (Katt), "How'd you like to kill someone for me," the swift response is hilarious. Apart from what comes out of their mouths, the rest of the actors seem to be following the conventional routine. Peter Fonda flashes guilty smiles, while Barry Newman is intimidating, even to those he's protecting. Also Valentine's business dealings, which lead to Jenny's death, are skimmed and simplified for the audience. The core of what's revealed is that he needed money, and tried to gain some via a drug deal.

Edited by Sarah Flack, the unusual style, which flits around with time and memory, is key to how Wilson remembers his daughter. It seems strangely unique at first, but the frequency of it becomes intrusive. It honestly feels more awkward rather then the next best thing filmmakers will be imitating.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 before being released in October later that year. Released by Artisan (coming off a breakout hit with The Blair Witch Project), they were probably expecting a slow build sleeper with Out of Sight proportions. An extremely limited release with little expansion meant that this never happened. It was released on just 17 screens with a weekend take of $187,000. It managed to expand on as many as 105 screens over the weeks, but with an eventual take of $3.1 million, it just wasn't enough to recoup its $10 million production budget.

The Limey doesn't really do anything wrong. It's just a simple story, (a prize for those who can count how many times I've used the word "simple" and its variants), where the only standout feature is its main character. Everything is kept to a minimum, from the running time, the scope of the story, even shot lengths (some scenes have a multitude of cuts). It's not overly exciting, but thankfully it doesn't waste any time trying to be anything else and sticks to the essentials.