CINEMA
PROPERTY OF MIRAMAX
Movie Review
CASUAL
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Published: 05.04.21
MPAA: R
Genre: Action. Thriller.
Wrath of Man is nothing overly special
RELEASE: 05.07.21
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WRATH OF MAN (2021)
OPENING THOUGHTS:
I'm a sucker for a good Statham action flick, and although the trailer didn't blow me away for this crime thriller, the addition of the name Guy Ritchie made me a little more enthusiastic.
DIRECTION:
Guy Ritchie is a huge name in the industry, and he always seems to be cranking out film after film. For me, a Guy Ritchie movie can go two ways: incredibly mediocre or top tier filmmaking. There's hardly any that I hate and hardly any that fall between the lines. This film suffers greatly with its choppy direction and unclean editing. The film is purposefully all over the place but it's within Ritchie's execution that the film is at fault. Showing us the point of view of every party associated with the death of Statham's son is an interesting approach but also a repetitive one. The opening scene from the inside view of the armored truck drivers is one of the worst scenes in the entire film, and that's the scene that's supposed to convince us to stay? The film does get better, but it never climbs any higher than the usual Ritchie level of mediocrity.
PLOT:
After his son is murdered during a violent robbery of an armored truck, H is on the road to revenge as he becomes an inside man within the armored truck business and personally hopes for robberies to occur. The film feels extremely disjointed with the first half resembling an entirely separate film. Both function on their own, but crammed together makes a lopsided plot that's attempting to tell every side of the story. The way Wrath of Man is structured, it's difficult to know every scenario the story is headed for, but once the final picture comes together it's all underwhelmingly familiar.
ACTING | CHARACTERS | DIALOGUE:
The characters themselves are fine, albeit simple. We are given a lot of characters and too little screen time to split amongst them all. With the likes of Jason Statham in the top spot, you'd hope the film would allow him time to shine, but his best material is far and wide. The same can be said for numerous of his supporting co-stars such as Jeffrey Donovan, Andy Garcia, and Josh Hartnett. Scott Eastwood takes a stint at being the film's worst of the worst villain, and he delivers a sociopathic performance that we hardly get time to see develop. It's a shame that there are so many characters yet none of them are better than just fine.
VISUAL EFFECTS | MAKEUP | DESIGN:
The film is gray and gritty. It bleeds realism in its visuals, and if one thing is near flawless it’s the way Ritchie made the film look (apart from his odd directorial choices). The atmosphere here is everything.
MUSIC | SCORE | SOUND DESIGN:
The score is aggressive. Time and time again I found myself more distracted by the overall sound, whether it be Christopher Benstead's score or the painfully loud bullets (something that sounded ridiculous as soon as I wrote it, but it's the truth).
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Wrath of Man is nothing overly special. We've seen this type of movie before. We know how it's gonna end; the revenge story must come full circle. However, unlike John Wick's story, Statham's H should probably quit while he's ahead.
ONLY IN THEATERS - MAY 7, 2021
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CONCLUSIVE VERDICT:
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