Retribution

-- Video Business, 1/29/2001

THRILLER
Color, R (mature themes, language, violence, sexual situations, nudity, drug use), 100 min., VHS rental price, DVD $24.99
Street: Feb. 20, Prebook: Jan. 30 (DVD Jan. 23)
Cast: Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting), Brian Cox (Rushmore), Keeley Hawes (The Avengers), Paul Higgins (The Replacement Killers), Bill Paterson (Comfort and Joy)
Director: Gavin Millar
STUDIO

Story Line: Cameron Colley (Miller), an investigative reporter for an Edinburgh newspaper, finds that whenever he's about to break a story, the subject of his article is killed in a disturbing fashion. Colley thinks the murders are related to a nuclear arms conspiracy he's about to uncover, but as the bodies mount, Colley becomes the prime suspect.

Bottom Line: Based on Iain Banks best-seller Complicity, this edgy thriller is strong in several areas, unflinchingly depicting the world of kinky sex, booze and drugs inhabited by Colley, who is portrayed in an interesting warts-and-all performance by Miller. Filled with red herrings and unsettling violence, the film's mystery is complicated, though it does more-or-less successfully incorporate politics, serial killers and Seven-type murders. Retribution deserves a strong recommendation, although viewers' appreciation may depend partly on their ability to understand heavy Scottish accents. --Irv Slifkin