Wrath of Man (2021)

A seemingly over-qualified man takes a position at an armored truck company and bids his time as the viewer discovers more and more about him and his reasons for being there.

Loosely based on the French film Le Convoyeur (Cash Truck) from 2004 by Éric Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief, this new version directed by Guy Ritchie is written by Ritchie with Marn Davies and Ivan Atkinson. The writing does good work adapting the film to its new location, cast, and director. While it’s not perfect, the adaptation works for its new location and adds a few bits that fit with its star which would have felt out of place in the original. While the story loses some of its impact in this version, it’s still highly entertaining and a fun watch. It’s good, but it’s not Ritchie’s best. While many saw The Gentlemen as a return to source for the director, plenty did not really like it all that much. When it comes to Wrath of Man, it feels like a continuation of the new Ritchie. It’s him, but older and bit more mature. Except for the intro scenes where most of the armored truck workers show their sense of humor in a way that can only be considered juvenile, sexist, and downright unappealing. Thankfully, the film moves on from this pretty quickly and then gets into the main action. The action itself works, the characters are decently developed while it does feel like there may be a few too many of them at times, and the film moves at a good pace.

The acting here is about as expect with Jason Statham showing a bit more range than his usual, which is almost odd to see. The part of H is tailored made for him, adapted from the original into something that fits his ways and qualifications. His work here is mostly as expected and gives the film most of its action beats. A surprising presence in a part that is a bit unexpected for him is Josh Hartnett Boy Sweat Dave, a man of questionable character, sense of humor, and courage. His work is good, making the viewer forget their expectations of him. Other stand outs are Scott Eastwood and Jeffrey Donovan who play 2 of the bad guys in a situation where things are not so clear cut.

On the technical side, the film is well shot, edited, and all of these things one expects of a larger budget film. It all doesn’t particularly stand out, but it all works and it fits with the film.

Wrath of Man is a decent action film that falls in line with a lot of recent releases in that it has a huge cast with plenty of familiar faces, to the point of having a few too many characters at times, it also shows off its leads capacities well, and is entertaining. Where it stands out a bit is in how it is being lauded as Ritchie’s return to basics when it is in fact more of a continuation of his style evolution. Yes, it’s Ritchie with Statham for the first time since Snatch, but they both are older and more experienced and their styles have evolved. This leads to a film that has some of the of the old, some new, and some borrowed. It’s a remake that fits with its filmmaker, but it will also make his fans wish he had gone a bit further with some of the stuff and kept some scenes out of the cut as they only pad the runtime.