Thursday, May 6, 2021
Wrath of Man
After seeing a series of deadly mass shootings in the
headlines and being shunned out of theaters for over a
year, you will be both glad to return to a theater and to
see the shootings in a fictional world instead of
reality. The director Guy
Ritchie's new crime drama "Wrath of
Man" (USA 2020 | 118 min.) fits that bill
perfectly by unfolding a story of vengeance centered around
a cash transporting agency.
That cash transporting agency is Fortico in Los Angeles, with a group of well-trained armored guards. Two of its guards are killed during a robbery at the opening of the film. A few months later after the deadly heist, a stone-faced H (Jason Statham), short for Hill, is hired by Fortico. Even though H shows only average performance during his training, he single-handedly overpowers a group of criminals during another robbery shortly after he is on the job. His coworkers are puzzled by this mysterious guy who speaks few words, but seems to carry a heavy burden in his mind. Actually the film's title already hints at H's personal quest of vengeance.
There are plenty of heist movies out there already, and this one by no means sits on the top of that crop. But the director Guy Ritchie manages to keep the story captivating and to keep the truth under wraps for as long as he can. He playfully reveals the plot little by little in a non-linear timeline. Unfortunately, once you learn the truth halfway into its running time, the film begins to lose that teasing appeal, and the machine guns begin to overwhelm the screen.
The tough guy-looking Jason Statham is perfectly cast for the role. Judging by his looks alone, one would guess he can take half a dozen bullets yet still beat his opponents, and surely he does. Other characters in the film have little depth as if they were written to meet the diversity quota requirements.
Unlike Jason Statham's deep low voice, the overzealous music starts to blast loud beats from the very beginning and sometimes competes with the gun fire. It would have been too much if I had not been out of a theater for more than a year by now.
"Wrath of Man" opens in theaters on Friday, May 7, 2021.
