I'd heard so much about Guy Ritchie's Revolver before I entered that dark room this weekend. About a year ago I learned that Mr. Madonna had recruited Ray Liotta, Andre 3000, Vincent Pastore and muse Jason Statham, so naturally I was pumped for this movie, particularly after loving his first two movies, Lock Stock and the superb Snatch. To be honest, I didn't think that Swept Away was all that bad, but I was soooo pleased with the news that he was returning to the genre where he made his name.

So, a year on and its finally in cinemas. I'd heard the first reviews. 'Confusing', 'rubbish' and even 'worst film of the year' were being quoted from the UK press. I thought to myself, 'it can't be that bad -- can it?' This is Guy Ritchie for God's sake?" Well, I'll save me opinion until after I attempt to explain the film's plot.

Jake Green (Statham) is released from prison after a seven year stretch, presumably because of an incident with Ray Liotta's character Dorothy Macha and a trio of goons named the 'three Eddies'. After getting out, and making a ton of money gambling, due to a can't-lose-formula he picked up in the stir, Green heads back to Macha's Vegas-styled casino, where he challenges him to a few ludicrous high stake bets. After doing him out of a substantial amount of dosh, Macha sends out his henchman to 'off him', and get his money back. And that's about all I can decipher.

The problem with this movie is that it'is too damn hard to follow. I mean, after learning of its complexity, I made a point of concentrating extremely hard at the screening. I was okay until about halfway in, and then everything just sort of rambles out of control. Perhaps if all of the bloaks on the same side wore the same color of hats, and if they'd handed out a nice program with easy to read instructions, I might've been able to stay with it - but as it is, I was as lost as everyone else appears to have been.

I'll begin with the plus points of the film. It looks good. There's a superb use of color, there are some really tasty camerawork, and the editing is spot on, particularly in a scene toward the end of the film where a hitman goes mad in a house. This all nods to the superb work Ritchie achieved in Snatch. Then there are reasonable performances by Statham and Ray Liotta, and Andre 3000 and even Vincent Pastore.

So what's wrong? Well, where do I start. The first half of the movie is great. The opener was extremely cool, and I was enjoying myself right up until we get to a completely pointless Kill Bill style anime section about half way in. From this point on the only way to keep the crowd following the bouncing ball, would've been to stop the film about every 10 seconds and offer an explanation as to what the hell the previous 10 seconds were all about. Guy might just as well have named this film "Lost." Because that's exactly where the audience spends the second half of the film. And just when I thought I might've by some stroke of luck picked up the narrative thread and found my way - in an instant I was Swept Away again.

None of this movie made sense. I've seen Ritchie in interviews saying that it's all down to the individual, and if they don't get the movie, then they need to question their intelligence. Well, I consider myself to be the average moviegoer, with better than average cognitive skills and if I didn't get it, then neither will the rest of the people paying their hard earned cash to see it. Revolver obviously suffers from trying to be too intelligent, and it's also too damn long. Just when you think it's over, and you've thanked the good lord, you're treated to a completely pointless final reel. At this point, both myself and the majority of other cinemagoers were praying for the movie to end. Liotta even got annoying in the end, and so did Statham's overused and repetitive voice-over.

I won't go as far to say that this is the worst movie of the year, but it's up there. I actually preferred Swept Away. At least you understood just what the hell was going on. Revolver is a colossal misfire, and word of mouth for this movie won't be good, especially as the film promised so much, and delivered so little.

Guy, if this is your return to form, we'd all prefer the Mrs. running around half naked on the beach.