Summary
The film’s sheer bravado makes Wrath of Man a blast.
I’m not sure any director currently working today can make a standard action picture more interesting than Guy Ritchie. His latest, Wrath of Man, is practically dripping with that Ritchie sound and visual appeal (maybe that brief obsession with John Woo). Even the name is given a facelift, as it clearly should have been titled Last Man Standing because of the sheer amount of bodies left in its wake. It’s a much better film than the 1996 Bruce Willis vehicle or the other six films named that in the last 30-plus years. It is a highly stylized and brutal gift.
The script of Wrath of Man is based on Nicolas Boukhrief’s’ 2004 French action film Le Convoyeur (Cash Truck). The film follows H (Jason Statham), who takes a job as a security guard for an armored car company. They are lucky they hired him because they have multiple attempted robberies in his first shift. It’s a real good day for different homicidal robbery crews. The hiring manager should get a raise.
His trainer, Bullet (Holt McCallany), has taken a shining to Handsome Rob. His co-worker, Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett), is an over-compensating douche bag who hates him. It doesn’t matter, the job is the job. H is there to help protect hundreds of millions of dollars from the bad guys who get in his way (including Post Malone, Scott Eastwood, and Jeffrey Donovan). There couldn’t be an ulterior motive, could there?
The script was written by Boukhrief and Ritchie, along with Marn Davies, and Ivan Atkinson (both responsible for The Gentlemen). It’s an ambitious one, with the main credit going to Cash Truck’s original outline. Many may find the plot confusing as it surprisingly demands that you pay attention, with varied timelines that tend to blend together.
Now, this isn’t a work of genius and some of the lines spouted can make you roll your eyes or giggle with homicidal glee (I chose the latter). I personally hope the scene where Statham tells Post Malone to suck his d*ck right before he unloads a clip into him is placed in The Smithsonian.
My only complaint is the ending doesn’t work as well as it should as it doesn’t seem to explain a plot point that results in every action film getting a nice little bow on top of its head. It would have been a stronger film if it ended 10 minutes sooner and had driven off into the sunset.
Still, this film’s sheer bravado, along with the ambitious way it plays with the timeline, and relentless third act make Wrath of Man a blast.
