Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2021 action thriller, Wrath of Man, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jason Statham.
After witnessing a robbery of a Fortico armoured cash truck, we flash back and meet Patrick Hill (Jason Statham) on his first day at Fortico Security. Hill, dubbed ‘H’ by his partner Bullet (Holt McCallany), undertakes training and meets the team. Soon, however, Bullet is taken hostage during a ‘drop’, and H goes to work …
After a few disappointing ventures, director Guy Ritchie returned to his cockney-gangster roots with The Gentlemen. Here, Ritchie tries something a little different, albeit more commercial, within the well-trodden groove of the revenge genre. Statham is a man of few words with only vengeance left to guide him into the world of armoured truck deliveries to find a particular gang of thieves. The tone is dark and worthy of its title, accompanied by a menacing cello score. A surprisingly all-star cast round out the supporting roles, raising the stakes of this heist revenge caper. Scott Eastwood’s sinister antagonist hosts a scar near his eye; the camera capturing a close-up squint reminiscent of his father’s The Man With No Name.
The story is told in a non-linear fashion, a la The Hateful 8,which leaves Hill’s motivation and the identity of our gang of thieves hidden until the penultimate chapter, where a no-holds-barred showdown inevitably takes place and Hill’s wrath is unleashed.
Verdict: A masterful take on the revenge genre, with nods to spaghetti westerns and Michael Mann’s Heat. 4 stars.
Wrath of Man is playing at Dendy.
- Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net
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