Wrath of Man

An English language remake of the 2004 French film Le Convoyeur (unseen by me), Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man not only marks the fourth team up between the director and action star, Jason Statham, but it also marks a change of course for Ritchie.  Gone is the rapid fire editing and quick-witted mobsters, and in its place is a fairly straight forward crime thriller that is more involving in its first hour than its second.  Still, the movie works as a whole, thanks to some strong performances, and Ritchie and his fellow screenwriters tackling this material seriously, rather than with the director's trademark flippancy.  

The movie employs a time-jumping, out of sequence narrative to introduce its characters and their motivations.  For the first half hour or so, Statham's character is more or less a mystery to us, and to the other characters.  Then, the screenplay flashes back, and clues us in on him.  The movie further goes back in time, introducing us to some characters we've been introduced to earlier, so that it can develop their connection.  The way the film keeps on doubling back, filling in the pieces, can be irritating, but it works here to a point.  The only thing that doesn't work is that once all the pieces are in place, the answers are not as exciting as we would hope, and the ultimate climax is a bit underwhelming.  Still, when there is some mystery to its characters, this movie works beautifully, and is quickly paced.  If anything, Statham knows how to sell his character, who often comes across as quiet and unassuming, but obviously has more than a few demons under his belt.

After a rather bizarre James Bond-style opening credit sequence, we are introduced to a man who goes by the nickname of H (Statham).  He's just applied for a job as an armored truck driver for a security company, and manages to just barely pass the required gun training and driving tests needed for the job.  He's given a mentor in veteran security officer Bullet (Holt McCallany), and warned that the company has been experiencing a rash of burglaries recently, and that one of their trucks recently was robbed, with the two drivers killed in the process.  H seems to take all of this in stride, and doesn't have much to say about anything, not even when he is supposed to be fraternizing with his fellow guards at a bar.  But then, another robbery happens, and this time the bad guys have the misfortune of trying to rob the truck that H is on.  His actions show that he's much more skilled with a gun than he previously let on, and because his quick thinking winds up saving the life of Bullet and another driver (Josh Hartnett), he becomes a hero.

Bullet and some of the other men at the security company begin to question if H is really who he says he is, as his movements and actions while stopping the heist were like that of a trained killer.  H is cold, efficient, quiet, and doesn't like to talk about himself, which makes some worry.  As we start to see flashbacks of H's past and what led him to taking the job, we slowly piece things together, and are intrigued by the revelations that are shown.  We also learn in separate flashbacks the story behind the men who have been pulling off the deadly armored truck robberies and follow them long, particularly one who seems to be a bit more trigger happy than the rest of the men (Scott Eastwood).  As the two separate storylines converge, we learn their connection, and what will ultimately bring the robbers into a deadly showdown with H before it is all over.

The thing with Wrath of Man is that it's absolutely engaging as it's lying things out.  I have intentionally been vague so far, so as to reveal as little as possible.  But, once all the pieces are in place, there's really only one way for the story to go, and it's a bit disappointing.  We expect fireworks, and the film's rather anticlimactic moments only gives us a small fizzle instead.  Still, I am recommending the movie because when it's good, it's kind of brilliant.  Ritchie never lets up, and the movie creates an excellent sense of mystery, tension, and suspense as he's cluing us in to these people.  I also admired the film's dark and serious tone.  Ritchie is famous for having his character cracking wise as they're blowing each other away, but here, he wisely plays it completely straight.  

Even if the plot kind of gets bogged down in predictability by the end, the performances kept me engaged.  Statham is intentionally being cold and somewhat unemotional here, and as we are filled in on his background, we understand why.  It's not that the action star is turning off his charisma here, it's that his calculated and intentionally guarded portrayal is the right fit for the character he's playing.  The other two performances that stand out here are Holt McCallany, who brings an easy charm and likability to his portrayal as a veteran armored truck driver who has likely seen it all, and Scott Eastwood as a clearly unhinged villain, who clearly has a lot of darkness brewing deep within him, perhaps more so than the other men he is working with.  

Wrath of Man does not fully live up to its early promise, but it's still worth seeing, and is probably the strongest directorial showing from Ritchie in quite a while.  I actually appreciated seeing something from him that was not all over the map in terms of tone.  The out of sequence narrative he has chosen is easy enough to follow, and even if the payoff is not as thrilling as the events leading up to it, I still felt like I had gotten my money's worth spending time with these characters.

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