Guy Ritchie, arguably, is one of Hollywood’s best working filmmakers. Granted, it’s not as if the movies he’s made are some of the best movies ever made, however, I think it’s safe to say that each movie he’s made would be on a scale from solid to great. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Snatch and even 2020’s The Gentlemen are some of his best movies and are best examples that exhibit his talents as as storyteller and a filmmaker. Even the financial and critical disaster, King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword has a lot more positive qualities than most people might assume. Guy Ritchie even struck financial gold with the two Sherlock Holmes he made, led by Robert Downey Jr. and the live action adaption of Aladdin. He may not be at Christopher Nolan level of name recognition, but he’s definitely a cinephiles film director and despite that most of his movies haven’t all been major successes, it’s great to see him get more work, especially when you consider that we had a pandemic last year.
The best thing about Guy Ritchie is that he shares a lot of common ground with another beloved filmmaker with Quentin Tarantino. He’s primarily known for his fast-paced and energetic action scenes and exchanges of dialogue. He also is very fond of placing his main characters in hectic moments of violence and combat. Guy Ritchie likes to utilize filmmaking techniques of fast cuts and slow motion to build up in his story and, like Tarantino, his narratives are best examples of non-linear storytelling and interlacing stories all together. This is an aspect that runs throughout all of his movies and its way of telling you that this is a Guy Ritchie movie. He works well with crime movies, fragmented dialogue and a while bunch of slang and Wrath of Man is another win under his belt. Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man is a kaleidoscope of his style, writing and production design, coupled with incredible shootouts, brutal violence and a ruthless performance from Jason Statham. It’s a gritty, dark an unsheltered tale of revenge.
Wrath of Man focuses on a man simply named H (Jason Statham), a man who enlists as a new truck driver in Los Angeles who works for a cash truck money that’s responsible for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars each week. The crew H works for start to ponder who he is after some odd and unusual things occur and they then start to wonder his true motivations for working them.
These are the type of roles that Jason Statham owns and excels in. Jason Statham is one of today’s best action stars and there’s something truly cathartic when he’s beating the snot out of some thugs. He delivers on Guy Ritchie’s unique and stylized dialogue and still carries the rough and toughness that he’s used for his other action leading roles. His performance holds no bars on the ferocity, but he’s able to showcase some sentimentality, which isn’t an element that he’s famous for doing. He stands out in the action, obviously, but he’s able to balance out a stronger emotional side, more so than any other character he’s played before. The rest of ensemble does more than serviceable job with the material they’re given, but at the heart and soul of this movie is led by the charming and hard-hearted performance from Jason Statham.
The shootouts in this movie evoke anything that Michael Mann has done, particularly with the ones in Heat. Instead of this movie featuring hand to hand combat sequences, Wrath of Man arranges some of the most intense and enormous shootouts in recent memory. The shootouts are powerful, relentless, stunning and are at times gruesome. Guy Ritchie knows exactly how to frame a spectacular and cold-blooded shootout, in ways where a lot of other action directors don’t. What Ritchie nails with these moments is that he wants the audience to know just how horrifying and earth shattering an indoor shootout is, particularly in a tight and claustrophobic room. Moments like this give you a sense of trying to catch your breath from all the terror and chaos that when the shooting is over, you then take a moment to catch your breath. The action in this movie was a way for Guy Ritchie to dispose his style in a grandiose way. Just like every other Guy Ritchie movie, for the most part, Wrath of Man is a polished and attractive movie. From the shootouts to scenes of characters having business meetings, Guy Ritchie never disappoints on constructing slick and appealing sequences.Guy Ritchie also brings along side composer Christopher Benstead, who perviously worked on Ritchie’s last movie The Gentlemen. The score in this is movie gives the movie a chilling and haunting experience that adds to the intense themes of revenge.
If you’re a fan of Guy Ritchie’s style and work, the Wrath of Man is will meet your needs. Wrath of Man is a great movie to see in theaters. The action hits, the style is everything Guy Ritchie succeeds in and Jason Statham dominates as another action hero.
My grade for Wrath of Man: A-
Zane's take at the Cinema's 