After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
What would otherwise be a fairly standard 1960s thriller is turned completely on its head through a long line of eccentric, if not bizarre, artistic decisions. Almost every aspect of this film (the locations, pacing, soundtrack, editing, timing, lighting, dialogue, foley noises, the lack of any conventional conclusion... even the film stock and widescreen aspect ratio) have all been subject to such idiosyncratic choices that makes you wonder whether it was actually directed by, I dunno, Jean-Luc Godard. I'm not sure it's any better for all that, but it sure beats many mid-60s films.
Nick Schager of Slant Magazine wrote along the same lines:
Influenced by the French New Wave’s radical formal innovations, the European ennui of Michelangelo Antonioni’s films, and the genre revisionism of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, Boorman set out to make a thriller that looked and felt like nothing else before it, using widescreen Panavision cinematography, explosive colors, and a multi-layered soundtrack to re-envision the noir picture as highbrow Euro-art film.
