Terence Stamp plays Wilson, a veteran cockney wide boy who, just out of prison, is heading for LA to avenge the death of his daughter. It's an interesting quest but there's no escaping that this is an overly familiar plot dressed up with some fabulous sun-kissed cinematography by Ed Lachman.

Stamp's trail of devastation begins at a warehouse where he methodically works his way through the low-life scum like an old age Terminator. His goal is to get his hands on super-sleazy record producer Peter Fonda, whom he blames his daughter's death. Joining Stamp for the ride is his daughter's former acting coach, Lesley Ann Warren, and an enjoyably slobby Luis Guzman.

Fonda's a well-connected man though and he dispatches various hoodlums to take care of Stamp, who disposes of them with incredible ease. Such confrontations afford Stamp plenty of opportunity to foist his rhyming slang at bemused LA gangsters. This is a habit that becomes annoying though and grates as much as the fast cuts, which while cleverly done only impede the telling of the story. (The commentary found on the DVD of the film goes some way towards explaining the amount of rhyming slang used.)

This heavy stylisation is as deliberate as Stamp's pronounced delivery but it's all visual dazzle to cover the threadbare cheap plot. As usual with films of this type, the female characters like Lesley Ann Warren are left undeveloped and disappear whenever convenient.

Yet none of this prevents the film from delivering its thrills. But there is a hollow ring to this flashy number that leaves a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction. You can have some fun spotting the clips used from "Poor Cow" to show Stamp's character in previously happier days.

Read about the director of "The Limey", Steven Soderbergh.