I’ve long been a fan of director Guy Richie. With the exception of SWEPT AWAY I’ve enjoyed all of his films. Be it Sherlock Holmes, the man from U.N.C.L.E. or his exceptional British crime dramas like LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRLES or SNATCH, all have offered exceptional entertainment. Richie was the first to really see the potential of Jason Statham and the pair have worked on 4 films together. Including this week’s pick WRATH OF MAN.
The story bounced back and forth in time from various perspectives all telling the same story. Richie does an exceptional job presenting this tale and doing so in a method that doesn’t prove to be distracting or too complicated. Instead this method helps move the story forward. The only thing it makes difficult is writing about it without revealing too much. So please bear with me.
The film opens with the heist of an armored car and the killing of two guards. The action is quite put on display but the voiceovers of the criminals involved gives us what is happening. The guards and two bystanders are shot during the heist.
Fast forward a few months and there is a new hire for the same armored car company. Statham plays Patrick Hill, called H by his mentor Bullet (Holt McCallany). His first day on the job he’s given a hard time by a driver named Dave (Josh Harnett). When paired with him on a run a few weeks later, Dave is the one that is too nervous to move while Hill comes out of the truck with a plan in mind that results in the robbers all being killed.
But there is more to Hill than being a simple truck guard. We discover that the two victims shot in that opening heist were Hill and his son. It turns out that he himself was part of a large crew that robbed armored cars. He was doing the team robbing that truck a favor as eyes on the street but they didn’t know who he was. Once he recovered, he and his crew set out to find out who it was that shot and killed his son.
The third story taking place here is that of the thieves who did the original heist. This is a team of ex-military men led by Jackson (Jeffrey Donovan). Feeling rejected and underappreciated by the country that sent them to Afghanistan, looking for action and a way to make money they come up with the plan to rob armored cars. Jackson has a man on the inside to help them but won’t tell the others who it is. The biggest problem this team faces is the uncontrollable Jan (Scott Eastwood).
All of these story elements are presented in four distinct chapters of the film ending with the fourth that pulls them altogether. Each story is singular in itself and Richie does an amazing job of wrapping them around one another to tell a more complete story. The action is plentiful and the violence is brutal but fans of Richie have come to expect that. This is not a story for the squeamish and truth be told not many will make it out of the film alive. But that presents a more realistic world rather than a movie, a world where people die as a result of their actions.
Statham does a great job in this film. He’s plaid stoic characters in films before but never as much as he does here. His focus is straight on and those who cross him will pay the price, even if they are part of the same criminal world he is from. Donovan does a solid job as well but for me he felt underused. His character had so little to draw from. Eastwood on the other hand played the crazed killer with enough restraint that it became believable. The son of Clint he’s making a name for himself on his own terms and this movie should help that along.
In the end I found the film to capture my interest from
start to finish. There was no time that I found myself bored or reaching for
the remote and the fast forward button. That’s a rarity these days. The film
didn’t feel like it had filler involved, no ten minute repetitive car chases
that become tedious to those of us who watch movies all the time. Instead it
was a movie that I know I could watch again with ease. My suggestion is that
you make the time to do so at least once.
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