Born in 1968, British filmmaker Guy Ritchie first arrived on the scene with the 1995 short film The Hard Case. Shortly after, he met up-and-coming producer Matthew Vaughn, who would produce his debut feature, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Released in 1998, the film went on to be a critical and commercial hit, establishing Ritchie as a filmmaker. His follow-up feature, 2000’s Snatch, was another hit, though his next film, 2003’s Swept Away, was a massive flop. After a brief hiatus, Ritchie returned with 2005’s Revolver and 2008’s RocknRolla before hitting it big with 2009’s Sherlock Holmes. Following its 2011 sequel, Ritchie focused more on studio films, including 2015’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. and 2017’s King Arthur. Both were critical and commercial disappointments, and while 2019’s Aladdin made tons of money, it didn’t fare well critically. In 2020, Ritchie finally returns to his roots with The Gentlemen.
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Synopsis
Marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) has decided to retire and settle with his wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery). He plans on selling his business to billionaire Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong) for the sum of $400 million. However, Asian gangster Dry Eye (Henry Golding) learns about this and tries to persuade Mickey into selling him the business. Mickey turns him down, which leads to one of his drug farms getting raided and a small gang war erupts. This is intercut with sleazy private investigator Fletcher (Hugh Grant) telling the story to Mickey’s right-hand man Raymond (Charlie Hunnam). Along with telling the story, Fletcher is also blackmailing Raymond for the information he’s gathered on Mickey and his dealings. Many twists and turns happen along the way, people are betrayed, and the characters’ real motivations are exposed. Who will come out on top, and who will meet a rather unfortunate death?
Review
After years of making studio pictures ranging from good to mediocre, The Gentlemen is Ritchie’s successful return to his roots. First off, the cast assembled is phenomenal, each one having their moments to shine and sharply witty dialogue. McConaughey is as cool and charismatic as ever, Dockery is stunning and fierce, and Grant is delightfully sleazy. Hunnam gives probably his best performance here, Golding is wildly over-the-top, and Colin Farrell also gives a solid performance. As per usual with Ritchie’s films, the dialogue is well-written and sharp, and there are some great back-and-forths between characters. Also, the direction is slick and fast-paced, and the editing helps keep that frenetic pace going without overloading you. While a lot is going on plotwise that can be tough to follow, it’ll start to click after a while. In other words, it’s Guy Ritchie being at his most Guy Ritchie.
While it’s somewhat cliche to say “they don’t make movies like this anymore”, it is the case with The Gentlemen. This movie is rough, tough, gritty, cool, has tons of profanity and offensive language, and doesn’t care about mass appeal. As much as I do praise this film, I will admit it has its shortcomings, namely with its plot. Given the many twists and turns that happen, it can come across as convoluted and feel repetitive after a while. There’s so much information being thrown at you so fast that you need to pay attention and stick with it. It’s better to give it a second watch to pick up on details you may have missed and appreciate more. Most modern audiences probably won’t give it a second watch since they prefer one-and-done movies, but that’s their loss. Overall, The Gentlemen is a welcome return to Guy Ritchie’s directorial roots.
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