Direction: Guy Ritchie
Country: USA / UK
Wrath of Man, Guy Ritchie’s disappointing remake of the French heist film Le Convoyeur (2004), stars the British actor Jason Statham as a charmless avenger, in what is his fourth collaboration with the director after Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, Snatch in 2000, and Revolver in 2005.
The plot focuses on a mysterious man, Patrick “H” Hill (Statham), who starts to work for an L.A. armored truck company that transports millions in cash every week. The cash trucks are frequently targeted by the organized crime, but H not only demonstrates advanced combat skills when leading with the robbers but also drives them off with his presence. While promptly earning the respect of his colleagues and superiors, this man reveals other intentions than just doing his regular job.
It’s a bit of dark fun that we get before the film gets stuck in by-the-books action scenes with plenty of violence and machine gun pyrotechnics. Everything is set in autopilot mode and the menacing score by Christopher Benstead - who worked with Ritchie in The Gentlemen - is a constant presence, even in the scenes where it wasn't needed.
It’s all bloated spectacle in the end, a long and boring trail of deaths presented with a deceptive slickness, where Statham doesn’t even bother to bring a sense of grief to his miserable existence. Ritchie has enlisted the actor once again for his upcoming film, a spy thriller involving the MI6 and the CIA. I hope he can find different strategies to get better results.
