Beware the wrath of Jason Statham.
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Guy Ritchie returns to action with Wrath of Man, a film he not only directed but also co-wrote and is based on the 2004 French film Cash Truck by Nicolas Boukhrief. The action thriller sees Ritchie’s fourth collaboration with action star Jason Statham, reuniting them after 15 years since Revolver (2005). The film also stars Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, and Scott Eastwood.
Statham plays H, a mysterious man hired by Fortico, a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around each week. The armoured vehicles they use to transport money have recently been the target of deadly armed robberies with H successfully thwarting each off single-handedly.
It soon becomes apparent that H is no ordinary man but rather a skilled thug boss seeking revenge for a personal tragedy.
Wrath of Man may possess Ritchie’s signature traits (this may be an action thriller but there’s crime written all over it. Also, notice the lack of females, anyone?) but the Englishman who is best known for his British gangster films failed to deliver like he used to when he couldn’t decide if he wanted to do an action thriller or a heist film. Even his opening title lacked the flourish that The Gentlemen had.
The same could be said about the substandard script and unnecessary expositions that spell out every detail of the film from both protagonist and antagonists POV – a process that takes the fun out for the audience to make the connections themselves. Non-linear narrations are no easy feat and its implementation in this film made it seem like two separate films spliced together haphazardly. Looks like it got one up on this director.
If Ritchie had set out to do a heist film, he probably would have knocked it out of the park. It was somewhat ingenius when the film shifted focus on the antagonists. Had the film revolved around that subplot, it would've fared better. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case.
Fans of Jason Statham however will be glad to know that after decades of playing the archetype anti-hero, he’s still got it. He is after all the star of the film and no one does a one-man-show quite like Statham. Or Liam Neeson. Or Keanu Reeves. You know what? Nevermind.
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