Wrath of Man
directed by Guy Ritchie
directed by Guy Ritchie
Very carefully, succinctly and without discussing much of the plot that's how. Maybe let's first review what you might expect from a Guy Ritchie movie.
You might, if you had watched previous Ritchie films such Snatch, ,Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels or even The Gentlemen, expect a Ritchie film to be about a motley crew of lovable rogues who get themselves into some over the top trouble through misplaced ambition or simple bad luck, cross paths with more dangerous or less moral people, and through the power of being cool, good luck, guts, and some carefully planned double or triple crosses mostly manage to come out ok.
You might also expect a Ritchie directed movie to feature a tremendous number of sudden close ups, freeze frames, occasionally incomprehensible British accents and slang, a few good natured ethnic or racial jokes, intersecting plot lines, law enforcement who appear at exactly the wrong time for the bad guys, and a general sense of somewhat warped glee at being alive and getting away with it.
This movie is not like that. It's a remake of a French film.
And there are some flashbacks, intersecting plot lines and views of the same event from different perspectives.
But there's not much humor. It's much more serious. I mean serious in an action way, not a dramatic one. And there is a lot of action in this movie.
Statham never fails to convince. Statham says little but his actions speak volumes. Stylistically and visually, this film reminded me of some seventies or even sixties movies which starred Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen. It's fitting that Clint's son Scott Eastwood has an important role here.
The British born Patrick "H" Hill (Statham) takes a job at an Los Angeles based armored car company. Although the company has some employees who like to think of themselves as tough guys, morale is actually pretty low.
Although H scores in the average to mediocre range on most of the company aptitude tests, it's apparent to his new co-workers that H is either more or less than he claims.
H doesn't talk much and doesn't start any trouble but his stare and body language intimidate his co-workers. They won't be hazing H.
When H stops an attempted armed robbery all by himself with EXTREME prejudice, more people wonder just who H is and what he wants. The tension rises throughout the film. There are a number of misdirections and dead ends that Ritchie uses to keep the viewer guessing until the very end.
This was a very entertaining movie that goes to very dark places. Don't watch if you are sensitive to violence. Jeffrey Donovan, Andy Garcia, Niamh Algar, Laz Alonso, Eddie Marsan, Post Malone, Josh Harnett, and Holt McCallany also appear.
