Wrath of Man (2021 | USA | 118 minutes | Guy Ritchie)
Jason Statham’s character in Guy Ritchie’s new movie Wrath of Man gets the nickname ‘H,’ presumably because anything longer would be a waste of the man-of-few-words’s time. H is a mysterious stranger that takes on a job working for an armored vehicle company called Fortico, trying to keep the smooth transfer of large sums of money safe while moving through Los Angeles. His coworkers have names like ‘Boy Sweat Dave’ and ‘Bullet.’ Most people working for the security company are on edge because it wasn’t long since a heist turned deadly and two guards and a civilian died.
The movie was reportedly named Cash Truck originally. That would’ve been perfectly vague. Wrath of Man is fine, and it’s what we have to deal with.
Told in a nonlinear way, we learn that Statham’s H has a reason for joining the company that’s as old as time: revenge. He mostly keeps to himself but earns acclaim for breaking up a large number of heists. He keeps the money safe and his coworkers alive. Would-be-thief Post Malone isn’t so lucky.
The plot is a generic heist/revenge thriller and it’s mostly a vehicle for Jason Statham to kick ass and take names. I’m not sure how he’s able to survive so many gunshots. No character is fully developed and the dialogue is pretty weak. But here’s the thing: none of that matters.
Guy Ritchie knows how to turn a generic plot into an electrifying movie. Working with Statham for the fourth time, but first in fifteen years, it’s a perfect action star and director combo. Statham has a great supporting cast around him, including Josh Hartnett, Andy Garcia, Scott “Son of Dirty Harry” Eastwood, and Jeffrey Donovan. The action scenes are very well choreographed and the pacing is excellent.
This didn’t have the “feel” of a Guy Ritchie movie, the way his last movie, The Gentlemen, (or his three movies with Jason Statham) did. Mostly because Wrath of Man is an American film, not British. The big difference is whether or not his movies are populated with dudes or blokes. Wrath of Man is definitely a movie of (and probably for) dudes.
Wrath of Man has way too many flaws to be considered a “great” movie, but it is a very good one. I’m a simple man and sometimes I just need to watch Jason Statham beat the shit out of some bad guys. Ya know?
Wrath of Man begins playing in theaters on Friday, May 7.