Jason Statham has come a long way since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels—his first collaboration with writer/director Guy Ritchie. The pair’s latest collaboration sees Statham play arguably his most badass character yet in Wrath of Man, a film about one very well-dressed and angry man. You might have seen the trailer and thought it’s a rip-off of everything he’s done since The Transporter. Instead, it feels like an amalgamation of everything Ritchie has done, bringing together his British gangster films and more mainstream blockbusters with a pinch of Statham’s salt. While it’s tough to know what in Ritchie’s filmography to pit Wrath of Man against, it makes sense to match it with his other flick featuring well-dressed and angry men, The Gentlemen.
Cover Photo: United Artists Releasing/STX Entertainment
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Wrath of Man proves Ritchie is capable of anything. It might be his best “mainstream” film (sorry 2019’s Aladdin), certainly Statham’s best in years, and bodes well for whatever either of them does next. However, The Gentlemen represents Ritchie at the height of his abilities in the arena he’s the most comfortable in. Still, both of these films are a testament to how good Ritchie has become at making movies.
Overall Winner: The Gentlemen
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Wrath of Man MB
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Action and Violence
The Gentlemen can certainly surprise you with its violence but it’s by no means an action flick; indulging in stylistic self-satire more than mainstream gunfire. On the other hand, Wrath of Man is an action-packed thrill ride that acknowledges many genre tropes, adhering to them and setting the audience up for perhaps more brutality than they were expecting. Crank up the testosterone levels on a Christopher Nolan sequence, add blood, ditch the Hans Zimmer score, and you might have something close to Wrath of Man.
Winner: Wrath of Man
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Writing
With a screenplay by Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, and Marn Davies, Wrath of Man is based on Nicolas Boukhrief’s French film Le convoyeur. However, that’s beside the point. All you need to know is that the story of H’s (Statham) infiltration of Fortico Securities comes out of the gate strong; slowly divulging the mysteries surrounding his character after he goes Man on Fire on an unceremoniously present Post Malone (when will the random rapper cameos end?). Without a couple of backstories and a few twists, Wrath of Man miraculously unites its story and characters in a mic-drop-worthy finale that starts to feel more like a heist drama than a revenge thriller. Dialogue is minimal as it's all about worldbuilding piecing together the puzzle but there are some pacing issues. Perhaps the only reason The Gentlemen works better, as it navigates England’s illegal upper-class drug trade, is because its script was solely written by Ritchie—chock-full of tangents/witty dialogue, he’s mastered the genre he defined.
Winner: The Gentlemen
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Editing and Structure
Both of these films use multiple narrative time streams and excel due to their energetic pacing and razor-sharp editing. Wrath of Man may be tighter, offer up fewer diversions (despite a late-game shift to un-established characters), and James Herbert’s editing of the final heist plans/voice-over intercut with the real-time action is suburb but it doesn’t quite beat Ritchie’s confidence in The Gentlemen. There’s nothing quick like watching someone go to their boss and say “things didn’t go quite according to plan” before a Family Guy-esque flashback.
Winner: The Gentlemen
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Direction
Without sounding flippant but The Gentlemen can feel tonally imbalanced. Wrath of Man is brutal and stays that way. Piggybacking off the poster of a bloody-knuckled Statham, Ritchie subverts expectations by perfectly blending elements of his back catalog with Statham’s image. Exposition is kept to a minimum as Ritchie never distracts from the overall tone of the film with needless posturing. Even as tensions ramp up, Wrath of Man manages to organically develop its tone. The only reason for the aforementioned pacing issues is an almost abrupt lack of Statham, which Ritchie spends so much time focusing on in the film’s first half. Still, its intense action sequences (confidently filmed in the light of day) wrestle stakes out of an arguably thin plot and keep audiences riveted throughout.
Winner: Wrath of Man
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Antihero
Wrath of Man works because of Statham and that’s what Ritchie intended. However, the Statham we see it this isn’t necessarily the Statham we think we know. His screen presence is there but gone are the shirtless shots and fistfights in favor of precise merciless gazes. Despite being the “irredeemable man” archetype, he’s calculated, single-minded, briefly tender, and, despite saying next to nothing, human. The audience roots for Statham the entire time even when he might be worse than the antagonists. Let’s be honest, are we rooting for any one person when watching The Gentlemen?
Winner: Wrath of Man
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Cast
Ritchie always ensembles epic casts. The Gentlemen boasts his most formidable in Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, and Eddie Marsan. In Wrath of Man, Statham leads Josh Hartnett, Holt McCallany, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood, and Jeffrey Donovan in an ensemble of pencil pushers, butch types and/or criminals. Despite both adding to their respective films, The Gentlemen is simply more of a star-studded ensemble piece than its opponent.
Winner: The Gentlemen
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Comedy
Ritchie’s gangster films are best recognized by their darkly comedic sensibility. While Wrath of Man has its moments (albeit few), The Gentlemen is arguably his funniest movie to date. Unlike Wrath of Man’s adrenaline-rush, prick flick allure, The Gentlemen’s comedy appeals to a wider audience than say Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Winner: The Gentlemen
