Wrath of Man (2021) UA/Action-Thriller RT: 119 minutes Rated R (strong violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexual references) Director: Guy Ritchie Screenplay: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies Music: Chris Benstead Cinematography: Alan Stewart Release date: May 7, 2021 (US) Cast: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Rocci Williams, Josh Hartnett, Jeffrey Donovan, Scott Eastwood, Andy Garcia, Deobia Oparei, Laz Alonso, Raul Castillo, Chris Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Niamh Algar, Tadhg Murphy, Alessandro Babalola, Mark Arnold, Gerald Tyler, Alex Ferns, Josh Cowdery, Jason Wong, Rob Delaney, Eli Brown, Kerry Shale, Cameron Jack, Darrell D’Silva, Babs Olusanmokun, Thomas Dominique, Lyne Renee, Rebecca Calder. Box Office: $27.5M (US)/$104M (World)
Rating: ****
Director Guy Ritchie is back with a vengeance! After nearly a decade of lame mainstream movies like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Aladdin, he returned to his roots with the highly entertaining crime comedy The Gentlemen. It was a welcome return to form for the British filmmaker best known for shaggy-dog gangster tales like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Revolver.
For his latest outing Wrath of Man, the shaggy dog is in the kennel. This super-dark, super-violent crime drama is all business and no play. It stars Jason Statham (The Transporter 1-3) at his meanest as “H”, the newest employee at Fortico Security, an armored truck company still reeling from an armed robbery that claimed the lives of two guards and one innocent bystander. Initially, he doesn’t exactly distinguish or endear himself to anybody. He barely passes the shooting and driving tests. He’s surly and antisocial. A couple of his new co-workers would love to knock his block off. HOWEVER, it would be a huge mistake to even try.
A routine cash pick-up turns out to be a set-up. His supervisor Bullet (McCallany, Sully) is taken hostage by masked men demanding the $2M in the truck. His young hotshot partner “Boy Sweat” Dave (Hartnett, Black Hawk Down), looking like he’s ready to piss his pants, tells H to comply. H has other plans. He coldly, single-handedly takes down the entire crew with shocking ease. He’s hailed as a hero by most of his co-workers. It’s also concrete proof he’s more than he claims to be. Is he a hero or is it something else?
SPOILER ALERT! I’m issuing an alert as a matter of courtesy to those who haven’t seen the trailer for Wrath of Man which gives away too much as far as I’m concerned. Since the producers saw fit to reveal certain plot points, I won’t feel guilty about discussing them. If you want to go in cold, you best stop reading now. This is your final warning. Okay, here we go. H is a man on a personal mission. The innocent bystander killed in the earlier robbery was his son. The thieves erred in not making sure H was dead after putting several bullets in him. He is somebody that you don’t screw with. He’s the boss of a major British crime syndicate. Now he’s angry and out for blood.
In many cases, non-linear narrative is a self-conscious device used to distract audiences from tired, derivative plotlines. This mainly applies to the countless Pulp Fiction wannabes made by Tarantino imitators. There were far too many of those in the 90s, don’t you think? Guy Ritchie is an exception. He’s an exceptional filmmaker. The way he structures Wrath of Man is nothing short of brilliant. He jumps around in time a lot. He divides his film into chapters, each one heralded by on-screen titles like “A Dark Spirit” and “Bad Animals, Bad”. Each one widens the movie’s scope as it reveals more crucial information like the involvement of a group of Afghan vets led by their former CO (Donovan, Sicario). We’re introduced to characters like the federal agent (Garcia, The Untouchables) who sits back and allows H to go on his rampage through L.A.’s criminal underbelly to find his son’s killers. To some, it will feel like the plot is all over the place. Believe me when I say it all comes together tightly and violently in the final act, a major heist involving $160M in Black Friday money.
Statham is AWESOME as H. He plays a criminal so cold and hardened, he could easily be mistaken for the Devil himself. After all, hell follows with him wherever he goes. This is a guy whose ringtone is Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. He’s not just driven by revenge; he’s also driven by a sense of duty. He has to do what he sets out to do. It’s the code he lives by. H is a scary bloke indeed. It’s great to see Statham in a balls-out crime drama like Wrath of Man after the silliness of the Fast & Furious films, especially that goofy spin-off with Dwayne Johnson.
It’s also good to see Josh Hartnett again. Although he never stopped acting, he hasn’t done much of note since 2007’s 30 Days of Night. He’s good as the suspicious co-worker who may or may not be an inside man. I’d also like to call attention to Scott Eastwood (yes, Clint’s son) who plays one of the vets, a cocky, psycho frat boy who oozes entitlement and vileness. He’s a malignant tumor personified. What a great slimy bad guy.
Ritchie pulls no punches with Wrath of Man. He tells a tough, lean and mean crime story with no real heroes. On a good day, H is an anti-hero much like the vengeful drifters played by Clint Eastwood in westerns (e.g. High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider). It’s violent and has a high body count. The robbery sequences are superbly executed. The whole film is superbly crafted. It runs just shy of two hours, but doesn’t feel like it. There is no wasted time or superfluous material. I’d even say it’s one of Ritchie’s best. I only hope he continues to make movies like this.
