Ever since his breakthrough short film “The Hard Case,” Guy Ritchie has proven to be most comfortable when he’s telling stories about gangsters, criminals, and other shady anti-heroes. There was a brief period in the middle of his career where Ritchie veered into more mainstream territory with more commercial blockbusters like Aladdin and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. While it was fascinating to see Ritchie work on a more significant scale than he ever had before, the subsequent success of his return to mid-budget features suggested that he was a filmmaker best suited to follow his roots. Ritchie created a terrific throwback to classic action cinema with his 2021 Wrath of Man starring Jason Statham.
Many of Ritchie’s gangster films have a cheeky, slick sense of humor that breaks the fourth wall, revealing a more comical side to a rather serious genre. However, that snarkiness is almost entirely absent from Wrath of Man; the film is a straight-up revenge thriller that treats its violence seriously, proving that Ritchie wasn’t just reiterating his past success. Although it bears a lot in common with Richie’s classic films Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Wrath of Man succeeds by inverting the formula of a standard heist thriller.
What Is ‘Wrath of Man’ About?
After a brief flashback in the film’s opening moments teases that an attempted siege of a cash truck went violently awry, Wrath of Man tells a non-linear narrative over the course of four distinct acts. The story focuses on the enigmatic stranger H (Statham), who joins a security company as a guard protecting an armored truck protecting valuable cargo. Initially, H’s coworker Dave (Josh Hartnett) is skeptical about his ability to handle the intensity of the job, as the trucks are frequently targeted by the criminal underworld of Los Angeles; H only barely passes his first marksmanship exam, and refrains from giving any specific details about his past. However, any doubts about H’s ability to defend himself are eroded after his first real experience in the line of fire. Although Dave panics when robbers attempt to take down the truck, H takes them out in a ruthless barrage of bullets.
What becomes evident after a series of flashbacks is that Wrath of Man is actually a revenge thriller about a grieving father. It’s revealed that prior to joining the security team, H had a different life as a member of a robbery crew. It was during a botched job that his son, Dougie (Eli Brown) was killed by gangsters working for the gang leader Jackson (Jeffrey Donovan). By taking the job as a guard, H has managed to put himself in a position where he will once again encounter the men responsible for his son’s death. The notion of a grizzled former criminal seeking vengeance is hardly an original one, but the planning that H puts into finding his target is an interesting spin on a familiar narrative. Rather than searching for Jackson’s men, H finds a way to draw his enemies out; by positioning himself as a security guard, H creates a scenario in which using lethal force is defensible.
‘Wrath of Man’ Subverts the Heist Movie Formula
While most films about robberies center on the plight of the orchestrators, Wrath of Man is a heist movie from the perspective of a character preventing the crime. This allows Ritchie to create engaging heist sequences in which Jackson’s goons seemingly pull everything off according to plan; what they don’t account for is that H has anticipated their moves ahead of time, as his own experience as a gangster has taught him the common schemes utilized in this sort of heist. Ritchie does a great job at backing H against a wall, only revealing his strategy at the moments when he is seemingly most vulnerable. While a traditional heist movie would spend time developing the robbers’ planning process, Richie subverts expectations by creating more ambiguity surrounding how H acquired his skills.
As with many of the greatest heist movies, the target of the robbery in Wrath of Man doesn’t have a significant bearing on the plot. What’s entertaining about heist thrillers is seeing intelligent characters go up against overwhelming odds that force them to use inventive problem-solving techniques; even if the MacGuffin itself is simply money, the viewer gets emotional satisfaction from seeing the characters prove themselves in a challenging situation. Wrath of Man changes this essential quality of the genre because H is the character who is most vulnerable; he’s essentially a one-man army who is forced to single-handedly square off with a team of criminals that are far more equipped.
‘Wrath of Man’ Has an Intelligent Action Hero
One of the most enduring aspects of great heist thrillers are characters who are defined by their intelligence; heroes like Ocean’s Eleven’s Danny Ocean (George Clooney) or Baby Driver’s Baby (Ansel Elgort) are empowering because they use spare resources to their advantage, which often draws power away from more formidable authoritative figures. Although he has starred in no shortage of action films,Statham was able to play a deeper protagonist in Wrath of Man. Seeing the efforts that H puts into identifying his targets makes him a more intriguing hero; the audience is kept in the dark as to how he will pull off each scheme.
By questioning what makes the heist movie genre so successful, Wrath of Man proves why Statham and Ritchie have a great screen partnership. Ritchie is often at his best when he’s working with singular actors who bring a distinct personality to the screen; Statham is much better suited at playing hardened gangsters than he is in over-the-top blockbusters like The Meg and The Fast and the Furious franchise. With its twisty narrative and propulsive shootouts, Wrath of Man offered a comeback for them both.
