In the crime thriller world, few cast-director groups are as exciting as Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie. "Wrath of Man" is the fourth collaboration between the two after "Two Big Smoking Guns", "Kidnapping and Robbery" and "Revolver", and the film is remade from the 2004 French film "Cash Carrier", but the background is changed to Los Angeles. This time, the British duo tried to change the style of their early films. Guy Richie ditched his trademark British humor and inspired his inner Michael Mann authorship to produce a thrilling crime thriller that rivaled Michael Mann's best work.
Guy Ritchie is also one of the writers of the film, and the story begins with one of the most critical scenes in the entire film. An armored cash truck was hijacked by a group of professionals disguised as construction workers while in normal driving, and in the melee an innocent teenage witness was shot and killed by one of the robbers. The next story is divided into four chapters, namely "Ghosts of the Night", "Digging Three Feet", "A Bunch of Bad Boys" and "Liver, Lungs, Spleen and Heart", these chapters are not arranged chronologically, but from the perspective of different characters, let us gradually grasp the whole picture of the story.
Not surprisingly, "Ghost of the Night" refers to Patrick Hill (Jason Statham), a new employee of Fortis Security, who has just joined for the transportation of cash trucks, who is strong and silent, and his colleagues initially despise him, simply calling him "H", until one time he single-handedly killed the entire gang of robbers. While most people have a changed impression of him, some have expressed doubts about his identity, not least because of his mediocre previous shooting tests. These suspicions were confirmed after another robbery, as H scared off all the robbers by simply exposing his face.
On this basis, "Digging" reveals who H really is, and in particular why he joined Fortis Security in a new capacity, while "A Bunch of Bad Boys" focuses on a group of former military robbers that H is dealing with. As the name suggests, "liver, lungs, spleen and heart" bring H and his enemies together in a rather brutal and violent way, especially the robbery scene in the climactic part is absolutely frightening, and the well-designed action scenes are executed with maximum firepower like clockwork.
This shot highlights a feature that is evident throughout the film, namely that Guy Richie abandons his trademark flamboyant style, crazy rhythm and witty remarks, and that "Wrath of Man" is not like his previous films, or even his last film, "Gentlemen", but is completely a cold crime thriller that does not flinch, without fear of showing brutal and bloody violent scenes. In fact, it could even be argued that those who are expecting a typical Guy Ritchie-style film may be disappointed, as Wrath of Man shows the director's willingness to enter the realm of author-directing in order to enhance his own filmmaking prowess.
For the most part, this gripping thriller is impressive, and in order to break the audience's expectations, Guy Richie is not afraid to constantly reshuffle the cards, gradually revealing what H pursues, who H is really, and who H's opponents are. It's also worth noting that "Wrath of Man" is actually more of a group movie than hints from posters or trailers, with many supporting characters highlighted, such as H's veteran colleague Bullet (Hort McCarrany), the robber leader Jackson (Jeffrey Donovan), who has turned from a soldier to a criminal, and the unstable Jan (Scott Eastwood) among the robbers. And while Guy Ritchie makes a fuss about chronological order and perspective, he still firmly grasps the context of the story, and the whole film is always tight.
Although different in tone and style from the films they had previously worked on, Statham proved himself to be the perfect actor for Wrath of Man. Statham combines the qualities of an action star and a theatrical actor, perfectly shaping the character's rough, aggressive and determined personality with just the right amount of introverted performance. The performances of the other actors are also basically impeccable, except for the robbers played by Josh Hartnett, the cowardly "Sweating Boy" Dave and Post Malone.
Even so, Wrath of Man is still a raw and explosive robbery thriller. The pace is tight and unrelenting, the script is brilliant and varied, and the action scenes are gripping. Also a satisfying revenge movie, Statham's tough guy performance is compelling. Thanks to Statham, "Wrath of Man" is full of manhood, and finally explodes in the explosive climactic ending, and the last scene alone is worth the ticket price. Truth be told, although Guy Ritchie and Statham were separated for so long after the release of 2005's Revolver, Wrath of Man once again confirmed the chemistry between the two, so we have reason to expect their fifth collaboration in The Five Eyes.