'Wrath of Man' Review
R: Strong violence throughout, pervasive language, and some sexual references
Runtime: 1 Hr and 59 Minutes
Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Miramax
Distributor: United Artists Releasing
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies
Cast: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso, Raúl Castillo, DeObia Oparei, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Theaters Only
H, a cold and mysterious stranger, is hired by a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week. During one such job, the truck gets held up at gunpoint and H single-handedly deals with the robbers, showcasing advanced combat skills and training. Secretly, H is hunting for the people who murdered his son during a similar robbery and plans to use his new position to set traps for every would-be robber in the city until he finds his son's killers.
I have a love-hate relationship with Guy Ritchie movies. I liked a lot of his early career stuff until Sherlock Holmes (2009). Once he started helming big-budget projects, he became one of the most notorious filmmakers whose name made me groan (except The Man From U.N.C.L.E. That film rocks!). However, The Gentlemen was a fun return to form. Despite its egregiously racist boomer energy towards non-white people, it was a scaled-back film that proved he isn’t just a one-trick pony. Will this new footing find its stride with Wrath of Man, an English-language remake (come on Hollywood, why are we still doing this shit? Did you not listen to what Bong Joon-Ho said at the Oscars?) of a 2004 French film called Cash Truck?
Wrath of Man continues the streak of Ritchie’s signature style not being at the forefront of his movies. He’s actually trying some new techniques to make his stories more immersive. For starters, there are a lot of elaborate oners/tracking shots throughout the film that put you in the passenger’s seat for this thrill ride. From the opening scene where an armored security truck full of cash gets robbed, it’s pretty obvious that Ritchie put more effort to reinvent himself to help viewers follow this crime/thriller mystery where one event sets off a chain of chaos.
I don’t know whether to qualify this as a good or bad thing, but I’ve come to realize that Guy Ritchie movies have a face only a boomer man/beta male can love. Ritchie is completely off the studio chain now and doing projects that have a specific tone and atmosphere. Honestly, it feels as if he hasn’t left the late ‘90s/early ‘00s era. Wrath of Man is testosterone-heavy, like the way his characters make potshot insulting jokes about each other’s manliness, which often includes name-calling and dick jokes. There’s an aggressive hothead atmosphere, a predominantly male ensemble, ultraviolent action sequences that are graphic and disturbing, and female characters being turned on by the testosterone energy. You name it, this film has it. The only reason I’m giving Ritchie props is that he’s finally getting to do his own thing again, which I respect. The quality may vary, but I appreciate that he knows himself and his demographic.
That being said, Wrath of Man is nothing to write home and it’s not a standout in Ritchie’s filmography. Even for him, this is as bland as it gets in both plot and execution.
While Guy Ritchie’s style is scaled back for a majority of the film, Wrath of Man hardly does anything impressive with its storytelling or action. The filmmaking is decent and the action is clear, unlike some recent features, but also heavily mediocre. H (Statham) is a cold gangster who goes full Undercover Boss, working as a driver at a cash truck security company in order to find the people behind his only son’s murder.
The film is divided into chapters that play with time and perspective, involving all the parties who participated in this one event, as an elaborate setup to get you into the action and characters. But once you get to know them… you kind of don’t care. H is meant to be a cold gangster seeking retribution but never for a moment do you fully sympathize with him outside of him watching his son get murdered. When he goes full rampage, it’s absolutely messy as he doesn’t necessarily have a plan and is making shit up as he goes. He goes full vigilante, yet it’s not even fun to follow his journey. There’s an aura of coolness to vigilantes that H doesn’t have and the story pulls all the strings in order to justify his actions and cruelness. If you want to hire an oblivious boss who doesn’t care about their very sus employees, call Rob Delaney because he lowkey reprises his same role from the recent Tom & Jerry movie. H quickly becomes the “action man” of his job site and gets a promotion just because he kills a squad of robbers led by a criminal played by Post Malone. No cops involved whatsoever. He just accumulates more wealth. Maybe I’m just tired of the generic “white man goes full vengeance/scorched Earth” narrative but I’ve seen these stories done significantly better. Once his son’s killers are revealed, you side with them a bit because of their motivation but not really because they’re financially stable.
The ensemble is fine, I guess. Though there are recognizable names apart from Jason Statham, nobody stands out, which is a shame since everyone in Ritchie’s last film got to shine. Even Jason Statham, who has become a well-earned action star in his own right, isn’t that spectacular. There’s not much to H or his gritty work methods, so nothing comes across as cool with Statham’s performance.
While it’s entertaining, the film is padded with unnecessary story elements. There’s no reason for this film to be about two hours long with the generic revenge story it’s telling. I appreciate how it’s structured, but by the time the third act comes into fruition, it’s bogged down by *chuckles* Guy Ritchie-isms. You know… when you watch a Guy Ritchie movie and the characters explain the entire plan as we see it play out onscreen. It’s a typical heist film technique that Guy Ritchie LOVES to use. It’s part of his identity. While his style is subdued for the best, the film became more Guy Ritchie-er as it went on, which lessened the impact of the chaotic third act for me. If you're gonna show chaos, we need to see shit go sideways in real-time. It’s as if you’re holding the audience's hand when they’re grown-ass adults and it’s disrupting the fun, doing the routine back-and-forth cuts while padding out the runtime. Of course, I had to look to see how long Cash Truck was and of course, the original film is only 90 MINUTES LONG!
Just ugh. Wrath of Man. It’s fine if you’re in that boomer/beta male crowd. It’s a well filmed and gritty thriller that is entertaining, but it’s too long, generic, and underwhelming with its storytelling and execution. It’s something I’d recommend to rent for a Friday night with your dad or your bros or something but… Jesus Christ.
