Search - The Limey (Special Edition) / Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai (Special Edition) on DVD

The Limey / Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai
Special Edition
Actors: Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Forest Whitaker, Henry Silva, Lesley Ann Warren
Directors: Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh
Genres: Action & Adventure, Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense

R 2001

The Limey — Steven Soderbergh's follow-up to his sexy thriller Out of Sight is an equally stylish but far more austere crime drama, a work of memory that mixes flashbacks, flashforwards, and ruminations on the present into ... more »an invigorating cinematic quilt. Terence Stamp is Wilson, an aging cockney criminal fresh out of prison who flies to Los Angeles to search for his daughter's killer. She died in a car wreck, but he suspects that her lover, a music industry mogul named Valentine (Peter Fonda), knows more than he's telling. Wilson is a fish out of water indeed, a cool, cruel London thug on the airy, sun-bright street of L.A., a silver-haired criminal taking on street punks and hit men with the relentless drive of a man possessed. It's like Get Carter channeled through Point Blank, a hard-edged revenge thriller steeped in sorrow and regret, trading the warmth of Out of Sight's romantic heat for a more contemplative remove. Fonda beautifully plays off his cinematic history of 1960s hippies and rebels as a nervous, cowardly millionaire sellout in white cotton peasant shirts and a deep California tan. Luiz Guzman and Lesley Ann Warren costar as Wilson's "adopted" guides through modern L.A., and Barry Newman is excellent as Valentine's tough, terse head of security, another aging pro blindsided by Wilson's relentless single-mindedness. Soderbergh quotes from Ken Loach's 1967 film Poor Cow (sadly not available on video in the U.S.) for Wilson's flashbacks as a fresh-faced teenage thug. --Sean Axmaker Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Forest Whitaker makes an unlikely modern samurai with his laser-sighted pistols, shabby street clothes, and oddly graceful gait--but then Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is an unusual film. Quirky, contemplative, and at times absurd, it's just the kind offbeat vision we've come to expect from the fiercely independent Jim Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise, Dead Man). Whitaker is Ghost Dog, a mysterious New York hit man who lives simply on a tenement rooftop and follows a code of behavior outlined in Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai (passages of this book are interspersed throughout the film). When the local mob marks him for death in a complicated code of Mafiosi-style honor, Ghost Dog sends a cryptic message to his foes. "That's poetry. The poetry of war," remarks mobster Henry Silva, with sudden respect upon reading the verse. He could be describing the ethereal beauty of Jarmusch's vision, full of wonderful imagery (a night drive across town seems to float in time) and off-center humor. Though it briefly stalls in a series of assassinations (Jarmusch is no action director), it settles back into character-driven drama in a quietly epic showdown, equal parts samurai adventure, spaghetti western, and existential crime movie. The film is likely too unconventional and offbeat for general audiences, but cult-movie buffs and Jarmusch fans will appreciate his idiosyncratic vision. He finds a strange sense of honor in the clash of Old World traditions, and salutes his heroes with a skewed but sincere respect. --Sean Axmaker

Larger Image

Movie Details

Actors: Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Forest Whitaker, Henry Silva, Lesley Ann Warren
Directors: Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh
Creators: Jim Jarmusch, Diana Schmidt, John Hardy, Richard Guay, Lem Dobbs
Genres: Action & Adventure, Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Crime, Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: Live / Artisan
Format: DVD - Color - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 10/23/2001
Release Year: 2001
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 2
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 1
Edition: Special Edition
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Languages: English, French

Member Movie Reviews

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 10/10/2022...

The Limey - What a crazy ending!

Movie Reviews

Excellent presentation of their craft

Stephanie Partridge | new england | 12/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Limey
Steven Soderbergh tells this tale in an expressive and innovative style. It's not so much the story--estranged English father seeks the truth behind his daughter's suspicious death in sinful Los Angles. But the way each character is presented, then conected. The story unfolds, literally. It is like watching a flower bloom with elapsed-time photography. Terrance Stamp is great. Peter Fonda is more than just window dressing here. And the editor deserves a standing ovation.Ghost Dog
Forrest Whittaker is one of the truly great actors of the day. His work is that of a fine craftsman, and so rare in Hollywood today. The story is interspersed with relative narations from Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa--tales of Japanese karma (also available on Amazon). The mafia characters I feel ambivalent about. On one hand they lack depth and their laughability detracts from what otherwise is an interesting, thoughtful film. However, they represent a more realistic look at what some aging and less-than-organized crime associates are. These would be the Sopranos rejects. If you can get past the mafia club scene, they fit right in with the story."