R for violence. 87 minutes
This was quite an interesting film in my opinion. It stars Terrance Stamp as the title character, one Mr. Wilson. He has come from England to find out about the death of his daughter. The whole movie is shot like a memory, like Wilson is remembering how things happened and thus there are frequent cuts back and forth between different times. The funny thing is that if you think about it makes the spliced together monologues work quite a bit better than the straightforward ones in most movies. After all who sets out the whole of an idea at one sitting unless it has been written out for him in advance. It does work quite well, even if you are going in cold, but it works better if you understand why the movie jumps about so much.
I watched the movie on DVD and was surprised to learn that quite a bit of stuff I read into the movie was the exact opposite of what the director Steven Soderbergh and writer Lem Dobbs intended. I think perhaps that all good movies are like this. They are Rorschach tests. Different people will bring different perspectives to the movie and it doesn't stomp on any of them. Whether you see vigilantism as right or wrong it is a fun movie with a neat lead character, which is somewhat of a reprise of an earlier character also played by Terrance Stamp, in the British film Poor Cow. I really liked his character and so I ended up liking the movie. If you also think that an ultra cool cockney accented thief sounds interesting you might want to give the movie a try.
Also interesting to notice is the fact that only natural light is used. No light is brought into the various locations to give it the perfect light of so many other movies. But yet it still looks very professional.
Also staring:
Peter Fonda (As the villain)
Barry Newman (as a Security Consultant, apparently a job somewhat unique to Los Angles.)
and
Lesley Ann Warren (friend of the daugher)
Note: I don't say anything about the plot because that would lessen the enjoyment of the movie and it is not really important to a review. Important note: It is not slow, but it is not a shootem up type movie. Don't go expecting Die Hard or something. Though there is violence. More like a somewhat arty Payback. | 
