For 7 Years in Prison he Studied Quantum Physics And Learned How to Always Win in Any Game

After spending seven years in jail, a cockney gambler is ready to use his newly discovered formula to win at every casino, which will get him in trouble with a group of gangsters.

[EA-dedf]

I did 12 years in Folsom state prison for a false charge. Was pretty mad at the world for treating me unfairly but soon decided that spending those 12 years building myself up would be the best thing for me. I managed to get a doctorate degree in quantum physics after I came out so seeing this video really hits close to home.

[LaughTale]

I am blown away because of how wierd and yet fascinating the script is and how calmly he explained it.

[_The_Traveler_]

Watching Jason Statham try to emulate a realistic panic attack is like watching a child pretend to hate candy.

[dr.revenue]

This is honestly one of Ritchie's best films. The world wanted another Snatch, and this definitely is NOT it, but the story is absolutely enthralling. One of my favourite films.

[JacobJohnson-lhgx]

it's weird seeing Jason Statham with hair, he look handsome af and it suits him well. But I'll always remember him for being bald and angry haha, he's a great actor I love him. Great recap as always Movie Recaps! keep it up.

[YuvrajSingh-vcho]

My favorite part is when he studied quantum physics

[AC-izeh]

R. I. P. Ray Liotta his performance in this movie was insane. Highly recommend everyone to watch the whole movie

[ItzSJbro]

R.I.P Ray Liotta. Now that he's dead, this film deserves atleast some praise and more recognition. I gotta admit it, he delivers an incredible performance and tried his best portraying Macha as a monster who orders others killed just for his own selfish needs, he's into materialism and is ego personified.

*Ray Liotta in an interview: "It's a very thick, dense and smart movie, its a revenge movie, its gangsters, bad guys trying to get back at other bad guys for things, to really explain it fully, the best person is to ask Guy."*

Imo, the outer story narrates an ugly conflict between antagonistic mafia gangs in some casino city of the world, where the dominant personality system in each one of the gangsters controls each one of them. In literary terms, this would belong to the “realistic fiction” genre. While the inner story narrates the war raging between systems and subsystems inside a human mind. In literary terms, I would be unsure of how to categorize this representation of something real, but abstract, with something realistic, but fictional.



Revolver : Guy Ritchie Q & A


Where did the inspiration for Revolver come from?

It was a culmination of concepts really, but a germ got stuck in my mind about one particular concept: the con of all cons. I’m fascinated by how you can trick the mind and the individual, and this concept was so audacious, so radical, that I was attracted to say the least. The formula of the con is quite simple – you seduce people by their own greed. We can all be conned but at what point do we realize that we’re being conned and to what point do we allow ourselves to be conned. There was a famous book called The Big Con, which works on the formula that it is impossible to con an honest man. I was attracted to that idea too. The great challenge then was to take an intellectual concept and clothe it in an exciting, action-packed narrative because concepts are not necessarily interesting to look at. It’s important that the film delivers on an entertaining level. What you want in the cinema is entertainment but I like to be intellectually titillated while being sensorially stimulated. It took me three years to write this film whereas Snatch took me three months. Fundamentally, it’s not a very complicated film, it’s actually quite simple, but to clothe it within a narrative was quite complicated.

Why did you call it Revolver?

I’ve always been surprised that no other movie has ever been called Revolver because it just sounds cool. So I like the name but I also like the concept that, if you’re in a game, it keeps revolving until you realize that you are in a game and then maybe you can start evolving. The film is based on the formula of a game: where does the game start, where does it stop and who’s conning who.

Is it a film with a message?

I don’t think there is a message in the movie. The idea is that that there is no such thing as an external enemy. Jake Green is playing against Jake Green. That’s quite a hard concept to get your head around initially of course, if there is only an internal enemy, he wouldn’t want you to get your head around it. So it’s based on the formula that you can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent. Who is the ultimate opponent? Yourself. Then comes the principle that your enemy will always hide in the last place that you would ever look. The last place you would look is inside your head and the last place you would look inside your head is behind fear. I’m not saying that formula’s correct, it’s just a formula and I’m interested in formulas. In this particular instance, the only opponent Jake Green has to challenge is himself by doing exactly what he doesn’t want to do.

To that extent, are his experiences an allegory for life?

It’s funny, I never expected as a writer-director to end up talking about high-falutin’ concepts. I got into filmmaking because I was interested in making entertaining movies, which I felt there was a lack of. Jake Green isn’t just Jake Green. Jake represents all of us. The color green is the central column of the spectrum and the name Jake has all sorts of numerical values. All things come back to him within the film’s world of cons and games. Jake’s on a journey of how to play the game. He’s very good at playing games and he’s done very well out of playing by a certain formula but he didn’t realize how big and consistent that formula is. He only saw the formula in its microscopic form and didn’t realize that it could be macroscopic.

How does he get drawn into the game?

One of the first rules of business is to protect your investment. I like the idea that we do the same with our personal philosophies. Once we have decided what’s right, irrelevant of whether we are right or wrong, the more energy we will invest to protect that. Which is basically how conmen work. They get you to invest a little bit, then a bit more. They never tell you to buy something, just take a look. Even looking’s an investment. Once you’ve contributed some of your energy to looking - appraising a certain article - then a small investment has been made. From a small investment comes a larger investment, from a larger investment comes a greater investment until eventually you’ve invested so much that you can’t be wrong. Because if you are wrong, it must mean you’re stupid and nobody can admit that they’re stupid.

Jake is prompted to invest to counteract the threat of a fatal disease that’s hanging over him…

The only way to handle this concept within an hour and 45 minutes of film is to cut to the chase, and there’s nothing quite like death looming on the horizon to precipitate events. Let’s get the party started, and the only way that can happen is the imminent threat of death.

If Jake Green represents all of us, what do the other characters represent?

The other characters all represent a certain human characteristic. Jake, Avi and Zack represent one characteristic. Then there’s Dorothy Macha, Lily Walker and Lord John, who represent another aspect of our nature, different aspects of vice, of which there are lots of ingredients so I wanted to be specific about which character represents which vice.

Besides Jake’s name, there is an abundance of symbols in the film. What purpose do they serve?

I think it’s fun that films have depth. I’ve left a whole snail trail of clues and symbols for those who care to indulge themselves. But is it integral to your enjoyment of the film? I think not. There are simply different levels that the film tries to serve.

Chess is a prime example…

The rules in chess are consistent with the rules of all cons. I like the idea that the characters could all be different pieces on a chess board. I think we all embody the attributes of pawns, bishops, knights and castles, kings and queens. It’s just a question of do we decide to be a pawn or do we decide to be a queen. I didn’t choose to be the latter particularly but there are different aspects to our personality and nature that the chess board represents, which is maybe why chess is such a popular and ancient game. I’m a very bad chess player, by the way. Jason Statham has probably been blowing his own trumpet about what a qualified chess player he is. In fact, he’s an appalling chess player.

Does chance exist?

I don’t believe chance exists, no. I don’t know whether it does but personally I don’t believe in it. Either there’s order in the universe or there’s chaos. Either everything is predetermined or, by the definition of free choice, you can determine it but there’s still no element of chance. Or there’s the other way of thinking, that it’s all chaos and there’s absolutely no order and it’s all chance. You either subscribe to one or the other. I subscribe to the idea that there is order although it may look like total chaos, but I’ve no idea if I’m right. In the film, Jake’s niece is a good example. She represents innocence and I liked the idea that she could ride a roller-coaster that’s collapsing all around but still land on a bed of cotton wool against all the odds because innocence protects her. There are infinite examples, of course, where innocence is not nurtured or cared for, but it all comes back to chance. Do you believe in chance or not? Do you believe that the universe is fair or unfair?

And who is Sam Gold?

I like the idea that Sam Gold is a collective hallucination. He doesn’t really exist but he does exist. He has no power of his own, he only has the power that you give him. He’s as real as you believe him to be. In the context of the film, he is the opponent, the force that the individual in the movie has to overcome. Is Sam Gold evil or is he good? That’s up to the individual to understand. I love the concept that if this was all a game, evil may not actually be evil. That if there is such a thing as the devil, the devil’s only job is to be smarter so that we can become smarter. I have no idea if this holds water philosophically or theologically, but it’s a very slick concept. That’s basically what inspired the film: that the devil isn’t a bad guy, the devil is just a very clever guy, and the idea that Sam Gold is really just a very smart opponent.

The film opens with Jake Green getting out of jail. Would you say that it ends with him enjoying another kind of liberation?

The film starts off with a jailbreak and ends with a jailbreak because all the skulduggery going on inside his head didn’t allow him to know he was still incarcerated. That’s what the film is about, the ultimate jailbreak and the radical actions one needs to undertake to liberate oneself from this jail. It tells the story of the skulduggery and trickery and head-trickery that accompanies Jake on his journey, and the seemingly unlikely actions our hero has to undertake to break out of his jail.

[passerby]

This is an amazing movie with so many lessons for us all. Worth watching, but if you go into it just wanting "gangster entertainment" you will miss out on its real worth.

[Dimavo]

I love how the song in the background never changes, it's so iconic

[jacksonendo]

After watching the recap I’m still very confused

[sshowboat]

Statham with hair looks like a alternate universe john wick

[Shimada.]

This was the single best movie narrative wise, I really enjoyed the conclusion of Jack being able to control his pride and ego, and overcome himself to be at peace while Macha had gone mad through ignoring that side of him. beautiful Movie I honestly can't believe I havent heard of it until now

[EjwiiiMoviesLowvilleNY]

Guy Ritchie was a great director until his Madonna mishap. This film was one of Guy's best.

[heyhelmar]

Guy Ritchie is by far my favorite film director. He always delivers a masterpiece.

[dilyan-]

As i am lonely...i feel much better watching recaps than whole movie. Saves time and feels like im watching with somebody

[MajorCrisis]

I'm wondering why a wealthy crime boss is using a cheap Taurus pistol.

[dk_chocolate_]

This guy makes any movie feel like it a great movie 😂 even if it was bad.

[kamigodofghost]

this is one of the most underrated movie's of all time with one of the best psychological stories

[Motivation]

Been a fan of this channel for quite some time now and i can proudly say i have watched all the movies uploaded and always waiting for a new one everyday