{"id":8511,"date":"2024-11-18T23:39:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T04:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8511"},"modified":"2024-11-18T23:39:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T04:39:21","slug":"the-gentlemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/18\/the-gentlemen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gentlemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Gentlemen<\/strong> (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 STX\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 113 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language throughout, sexual references, drug content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Guy Ritchie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Guy Ritchie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Benstead\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Alan Stewart\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 24, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, Eddie Marsan, Tom Wu, Bugzy Malone, Lyne Renee, Chidi Ajufo, Jason Wong, Simon Barker, Samuel West, Geraldine Somerville, Eliot Sumner, Franz Drameh, Christopher Evangelou.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $36.5M (US)\/$115.2M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019d like to start by welcoming writer-director Guy Ritchie back to where he started. The British gangster genre has been kind to him with early top-notch entries like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Revolver. He was less successful in his attempts at mainstream movies with big budget clunkers like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and last summer\u2019s live-action Aladdin remake. We won\u2019t talk about 2002\u2019s Swept Away remake starring then-wife Madonna. He\u2019s back in the zone with The Gentlemen<\/strong>, a shaggy dog tale of a crime caper about an American drug lord in London.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ritchie starts off on just the right note with his introduction of sleazy PI Fletcher (Grant, A Very English Scandal) as the film\u2019s unreliable narrator. He frames the events of The Gentlemen<\/strong> as sort of screenplay pitch to Raymond (Hunnam, The Lost City of Z), the right-hand man to cannabis kingpin Mickey Pearson (McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club), a former Oxford student who found his fortune dealing weed. He has quite the empire with secret underground growing labs on large dilapidated estates that faintly echo the days of Downton Abbey.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, Mickey\u2019s ready to retire to a life of leisure with his strong-willed, regal-like wife Rosalind (Dockery aka Lady Mary from Downton Abbey). He plans to sell his business to American billionaire Matthew Berger (Strong, The Judge) when Chinese gangster Dry Eye (Golding, Crazy Rich Asians) comes calling with a counteroffer to buy him out. Mickey turns him down flat and that\u2019s when the trouble really begins.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m not going to tell you any more of the plot. It has a few nifty twists that I wouldn\u2019t dream of spoiling. Instead, I\u2019ll discuss things I already brought up like its bevy of colorful criminal characters. McConaughey\u2019s first scene has him delivering an internal monologue that briefly brings to mind his commercials for Lincoln. You can see echoes of his trademark laid-back demeanor as his character wheels, deals and doles out violence to a deserving few. Grant has really evolved as an actor these past few years. You almost can\u2019t recognize him anymore. He\u2019s moved past the affable, self-depreciating romantic heroes he once played in movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, About a Boy and Love Actually. In The Gentlemen<\/strong>, he flexes acting muscles we didn\u2019t even know he had. He creates a character that\u2019s wholly unlikable yet still capable of keeping listeners rapt with his riveting tale. Whether it\u2019s true or not is anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The real wild card in The Gentlemen<\/strong> is Colin Farrell (In Bruges) as Coach, a boxing trainer somehow mixed up in all the meshugas<\/em> with the young men he claims he\u2019s teaching to be \u201cgood lads\u201d. He repeatedly denies being a gangster yet consistently behaves like one. I\u2019d say it\u2019s the actor\u2019s best performance since In Bruges.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s a great deal of fun to be had with The Gentlemen<\/strong>. It\u2019s violent, but it has a cheeky, playful spirit that carries it along nicely. The one glitch is a near-rape scene that feels noticeably out of place. Honestly, there\u2019s no need for it. In addition, I\u2019m sure some will object to the movie\u2019s racial and gay stereotypes. I argue that it\u2019s crucial to the story. Remember it\u2019s being told from Fletcher\u2019s point of view; I guarantee you this guy does NOT subscribe to political correctness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you like Ritchie\u2019s early work as I do, chances are you\u2019ll enjoy The Gentlemen<\/strong> as well. It\u2019s a nice return to form for the filmmaker. It\u2019s a well-made, nicely-structured piece that serves as a cool alternative to the usual crappy January fare.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gentlemen (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 STX\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 113 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language throughout, sexual references, drug content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Guy Ritchie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Guy Ritchie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Benstead\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Alan Stewart\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 24, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, Eddie Marsan, Tom Wu, Bugzy Malone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/The-Gentlemen-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8765,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions\/8765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}