The Big Picture

• Steven Soderbergh's unique approach to genre films, demonstrated in The Limey , elevates familiar material with sharp storytelling and editing.
• The film's nonlinear structure and sound mixing techniques create a dynamic, immersive experience that challenges audience expectations.
• The Limey showcases Soderbergh's ability to direct intense action sequences and comment on Hollywood history, setting him apart from other directors.

Steven Soderbergh is the rare auteur who doesn't carry himself like an auteur. While he is a widely celebrated and influential visionary whose films are known for impeccable craft, Soderbergh is not bound by one style or theme. Where most austere directors take extended gaps between projects, Soderbergh works prolifically, often releasing a film annually. Throughout his career, he has preferred to operate in a genre mold, elevating familiar material with his usual sharp eye for set pieces and character. In nearly every instance, he reinvents genres without steering away from their satisfactory elements. Soderbergh's acumen for genre-sampling and character-driven films peaked in 1999 with The Limey, Soderbergh's dreamlike spin on action-revenge thrillers. Its unique nonlinear structure and sly meditation on Hollywood history is something that could've only been envisioned by Soderbergh.

The Limey

An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for his daughter's death.

Steven Soderbergh Reinvents the Crime Thriller in 'The Limey'

Following a roaring debut with the Palme d'Or-winning sex, lies, and videotape, Steven Soderbergh struggled to find his footing, directing a series of films that tried to recapture the indie magic of his first picture. It wasn't until the late '90s and early 2000s, with the star vehicles and genre hybrids, Out of Sight and Ocean's Eleven, that he confirmed to the public that he was one of the premiere directors of his generation. In 2000, he joined the very short list of directors to be nominated for Best Director twice at the Academy Awards for Erin Brockovich and Traffic, winning for the latter. The Limey, about a volatile British ex-con, Wilson (Terence Stamp), who embarks on a revenge tour in Los Angeles against music mogul Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), the man he believes to be responsible for his daughter's suspicious death, distills all of Soderbergh's interests (personal genre exercises, lone wolves fighting against the system, cultural reflections) into one tight, gripping, and unflinching crime thriller.

In The Limey, Soderbergh channels revenge thrillers of the '60s and '70s such as Point Blank and Get Carter. In the case of the former, John Boorman's neo-noir follows a crook, Walker (Lee Marvin), who is left for dead and exacts vengeance on a vast criminal organization. Boorman uses the revenge plot to explore the psychological burden of this career criminal and the insatiable thirst for retribution. Soderbergh's film follows a similar formula. Wilson's vigilantism hardly offers any closure, especially since he has no hard proof that indicts any suspect or conspirators in his daughter's death. As a career criminal, Wilson wreaks havoc because it's in his blood. Even if his daughter were still alive, he was destined to embark on a path of rage. Stamp plays the character with a palpable intensity so that the audience registers that Wilson's soul appears to be forever compromised.

Categorizing The Limey as a classical revenge thriller would be an erroneous claim. Narratively, the movie operates in a familiar space, but it's in the editing room where The Limey transcends into new-wave filmmaking. Referring to the film's structure as "nonlinear" perhaps undersells the virtuosity of the narrative flow, which jumps around from vignettes of Wilson's past to the ex-con surveying the Valentine estate. Soderbergh deploys intuitive sound mixing tricks throughout the film, particularly by carrying over dialogue or sounds from one scene to another scene in a completely different setting and time. The constant shifting of time within the story serves the film beyond paying homage to the frantic editing style of the French New Wave. Wilson, despite his rugged exterior, is emotionally unstable. We sympathize with his personal loss, but the dizzying nature of the nonlinear structure makes us weary of his morality. The aggressive editing style indicates that we should not trust Wilson, and more so, not take what is shown on the screen at face value.

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Is that Matt Damon?

Why Lem Dobbs Was Upset With Steven Soderbergh's Direction of 'The Limey'

For true film nerds, The Limey's legacy prevails as a DVD bonus feature. In one of the most memorable commentary tracks, Soderbergh sparred with the film's screenwriter, Lem Dobbs, over the distinct creative choices made by the director. Dobbs reprimands Soderbergh for deconstructing his script and, as he claims, needlessly framing the story from a nonlinear perspective. Dobbs also disapproved of Soderbergh cutting the textual weight of the story, and instead focusing on a more abstract narrative that undermined the character's explicit motivations and desires. In so many words, Dobbs thought Soderbergh treated his script as a genre exercise, disregarding nuanced characterization in favor of showy formalism. The commentary, beyond its surface entertainment value, presents an insightful contrast between screenwriters and directors. Throughout the commentary, Dobbs is audibly frustrated by Soderbergh's thought process behind certain scenes that stray from the script. Soderbergh explains to Dobbs that scripts are altered on set due to practical reasons — an unfortunate obstacle in the artistic process.

From a human perspective, Dobbs' criticisms are reasonable. Having your vision on the page be misinterpreted on the screen by the director is a frustrating prospect. Because the medium is subjective, neither Soderbergh nor Dobbs are right or wrong in this discord. However, the writer's concerns stemming from the subversive nature of the director's vision crystallize the sheer brilliance of The Limey. The film can be watched multiple times and attentive viewers are sure to catch an ingenious edit or sound cue they've never noticed before, creating a dynamic and immersive cinematic experience that serves the character and tonality. Because Soderbergh skews toward an opaque narrative, he gives the audience less of a window to wholeheartedly sympathize with Wilson. Not only does this confront the character's violent streak, but it also uses the mystery of Wilson as dramatic intrigue.

'The Limey' Demonstrates Steven Soderbergh's Action Chops

While not known for his set pieces, Soderbergh can direct a mean action sequence under the right circumstances. The frantic editing gives the film an unnerving edge that echoes throughout the runtime. The extent of Wilson's sociopathic streak is demonstrated in each set piece where he engages in combat. Soderbergh crafts these sequences with enough fervor to make them intoxicating in the beginning. Later, they become unsparingly brutal, causing the audience to revolt at the violence. The balance between slick and grittiness is what separates Soderbergh from the pact. Additionally, few directors would be as interested in commenting on Hollywood history as him. The casting of Peter Fonda, the one-time New Hollywood rebel of Easy Rider, as a figure of authority and lavish fame speaks to the nature of show business politics. A film like The Limey, a familiar concept with a series of gripping set pieces to round out the story, could've been a satisfying, down-the-middle crime thriller. Steven Soderbergh, however, has always aspired to challenge audience expectations. Miraculously, he somehow still managed to make an immensely rewarding crime thriller while reinventing the genre.

The Limey is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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