Mr Madonna's misfire

Ali Catterall decided to give Guy Ritchie's Revolver audio commentary a spin. Brave chap

"Revolver... I like the name of it for a start. If you're in a game, the game just keeps revolving, till you realise that you're actually in a game, and then maybe you will start evolving."
Guy Ritchie, The Making Of Revolver, 2006

Alan: "I loved that phrase you used, it was very clever - 'Revolution not evolution'."
Tony Hayers: No, it was the opposite. 'Evolution not revolution'."
Alan: "Well, whatever. Because that is me. I 'evolve', but I don't... 'revolve'. Or vice-versa."
'I'm Alan Partridge', 1997

Revolver was all about smoke and mirrors and that's all we got. A plot that evaporated like hooky perfume; pointless animated assassinations à la Kill Bill; interminable cracker-barrel philosophies. Did somebody order a cab-ballah?

On the film's initial release, it very quickly became apparent that Ritchie had but one decent movie in him, and had been doggy-paddling ever since. But the tide retreated long ago, and even the shallows he once made a virtue of dabbling in had dried up, leaving a jagged reef of creativity. Simply put, without Matthew Vaughn to curb his excesses, he was beached. It became equally clear after Swept Away that Ritchie's cinematic adventure was over - unless he could pull off some skin-of-the-teeth hustle the equal of Lock Stock's. But we weren't holding our breath.

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