Wrath of Man Review

 

Wrath of Man is the latest feature film from English filmmaker Guy Ritchie (director of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Snatch, and Disney's live action Aladdin) and also marks his fourth collaboration with action star Jason Statham. As a fan of both Ritchie & Statham, I certainly had some hopes for their latest team-up, especially with Ritchie freshly coming off the hugely entertaining The Gentlemen which was released just last year. The marketing has been pretty surprisingly minimal, but with a theatrical release just this past weekend, this also officially kicks off the summer movie season which besides a few exceptions was of course non-existent just last year in the amidst of the pandemic's early days . For that reason alone, I was just really happy to be back in a theater for a new major release.

On its surface, Wrath of Man sounded exactly like what I have come expect from any Ritchie & Statham team-up. But, while the film certainly doesn't shy away from the expected elements of a Guy Ritchie film including the non-linear narrative structure and brutality of the violence, I was pleasantly taken back in realizing that this was far from the traditional team-up from the pair. Richie dials back a bit on not only the pacing this time around, but also the quick, witty humor that is typically heavily feature in all his films. That's not to say there isn't some of that still present in this film, there's still plenty of humorous moments sprinkled throughout, but this is also a much darker and more personal film than he's made before. The story here doesn't necessarily break any new grounds, but there's a surprisingly pretty solid emotional core that I did not anticipate. While it certainly does have its share fair of familiarity and predictable moments, there's some genuine suspense too with the film taking several directions I did not expect and for that reason alone it managed to keep me on the edge of my seat through its entire duration. 

Statham isn't doing anything we haven't seen him do before, but that's certainly not a bad thing at all. He's always been one of the most consistently reliable action stars we have today and so much fun to watch in these sort of roles where we can just watch him for two hours killing so many people from left to right, but with this character comes I think an even slightly darker edge that makes this particular performance I think one of the best ones he's delivered in recent years. Surrounding him this time around is a really solid supporting cast that consists of many familiar faces from the likes of Josh Hartnett, Jeffrey Donovan, Andy Garcia, Scott Eastwood, and Holt McCallany. No one is exactly giving an Oscar caliber performance here, but certainly everyone plays their part very well. The character work here does feel rather half baked, but I did appreciate the fact that this isn't really a film with a clear, definitive hero, pretty much every main character has a dark, even mysterious agenda. 

As for any flaws, I do feel this runs maybe just a tad bit too long. Ritchie's films almost always have a non-linear narrative to them, and it works well here with its execution, but there was a section in the middle act that lagged slightly for me. However, Ritchie then brings everything home strongly with a thrilling finale. And even as it's somewhat breaking itself away from the traditional Ritchie/Statham film, it's still not at all devoid of the more predictable genre cliches. 

All in all though, while Wrath of Man doesn't reinvent the action or heist genre by any means, it is most certainly another very action packed, suspenseful and all around thoroughly entertaining collaboration from Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham that sees the two of them trying something at least a little different time around. If you're a fan of either of these two, and you're feeling more comfortable about making a trip out to the movie theater, then this comes with a pretty high recommendation from me. It kicks off this year's summer movie season on a really solid note.

Final Grade: B