Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hartnett, Andy Garcia, Holt McCallany, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood, Jeffrey Donovan
Wrath of Man is Guy Ritchie's (and for that matter Jason Statham's) most assured crime drama. It isn't merely a crowd-pleasing action film, but it transcends the genre into superior crime noir. There may or may not be any "good guys" in the film, but there are people whose motives we care about and we are guessing every step of the way. Who are these characters? What drives a man like Patrick Hill (Statham) to join an armored truck company and nearly crack a smile when thieves attempt in vain to rob the truck he is assigned to protect? Hill, nicknamed H, lays waste to the would-be robbers. He is clearly not who he seems, and many of the people in Wrath of Man can lay claim to that distinction.
H has personal reasons to join Fortico, the armored truck company in question. We witness an armored truck heist in the opening frames of Wrath of Man. Two employees are killed and we later discover a third person unrelated to the crime is murdered in cold blood as well. This person is connected to H, who is either a crime lord, a government agent, or both. No matter what, Statham approaches the role with his usual repository of self-confidence and quiet anger. But there is a bit more to H than meets the eye, which is one of the pleasures of not just H but Wrath of Man itself.
Gone is the over-stylized story telling and camera movement which had populated Ritchie's films as of late. He tells a straight story here with timelines which reveal not just the story, but the motives of H and the thieves he is ultimately chasing for revenge. The thieves have their reasons for wanting to knock over armored trucks, or at the reasons for most of the thieves. One seems to like the action, while the others like the money. Money doesn't seem to drive H in any of his endeavors. Part of the lure of H and the Statham performance is the mystery surrounding him.
Wrath of Man is among the most engrossing crime dramas in recent years. It isn't just a Statham vehicle. Ritchie takes great care to make it special by not just making the other characters future targets for H, but people with their own back stories who had the unfortunate luck to cross paths with hm. The action scenes are not just silly shootouts which follow action movie cliches, but ones that are loud, suspenseful, and high human stakes. Ritchie's past crime films had a soft, comic touch which were hit or miss. Wrath of Man is all hit with a few nifty surprises thrown in not just for effect, but are actually plausible and quite masterfully done.
No comments:
Post a Comment