Hello everybody and here I am with another 2020 movie review! This time I will be reviewing a movie that has been one I’ve been eager to check out ever since I saw the trailer, The Gentlemen. For those who don’t know this is a recent film from Guy Ritchie who also did last month’s Wrath of Man (another movie I plan on seeing eventually) and he is a director whose work I’ve come to enjoy very much as I really enjoy his Sherlock Holmes movies and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and I absolutely love his debut film, Snatch. Heck I even found his King Arthur Legend of the Sword and 2019 Aladdin remake to be better than I expected. He just brings a lot of energy and style to his work and so I was interested in seeing him return to the crime drama once more with a stacked cast to boot. As for how it went well I had a very enjoyable time watching it and I’d say it’s probably one of the most fun movies of last year. Now let’s get down to business and take a trip to the London criminal underworld with Ritchie as our guide once again.
The film is told to us via a private interview between private investigator Fletcher and hench-man of Marijuana kingpin, Mickey Pearson, as Fletcher’s newspaper editor boss wants to take Pearson down. We learn about how Pearson was born in poverty in America, won a scholarship to Oxford, and started selling the eponymous drug there to other students. He dropped out and soon built a criminal empire through means of violence. Now he’s looking to sell that empire and retire peacefully and he plans on giving it to an American billionaire named Matthew Berger. Yet words spreads about this selling plan which leads one rival gangster in Dry Eye to take some action in getting it for himself. From there many plots are hatched, crimes are caused, and schemes are enacted as much goes down throughout the course of this intricately told story.
As you can tell there is a lot of stuff going on in this movie and the story is told in a way where some scenes are out of order and there are many plot threads and characters all throughout it that do end up connecting by the end out of it. There are certainly times where the movie can get a little too needlessly complicated for it’s own good and I will admit I was a little lost at to what was going on at certain points, yet to the movie’s credit I was always invested in the proceedings and I was still able to have a grand time. This is in large part due to the script which is clever and full of witty and snappy dialogue that is not only very vulgar (though not to the extent that the vulgarity is the punch line) kept my attention and much of it can be really funny as I found myself laughing throughout much of the movie. Plus even though it’s a complex plot, that doesn’t mean it is entirely difficult to follow as the movie improves as it goes along when things become clearer and certain twists and turns are revealed that made me think a little differently about the prior events we had just witnessed and the reveals themselves were nicely executed. I also found the use of a framing device with the interview to be a lot of fun as not only are the two actors giving it their all (more on them later) but it was used in a way that I thought was fun and actually made things more interesting. Furthermore as always with a Ritchie movie he does a really good job of setting up the stakes and conflicts adding a sense of excitement to everything as we see the story unfold. Yes this isn’t the first time Ritchie has told a story like this in this manner but he’s still able to make this one stand out in certain ways from something like Snatch nonetheless and it is a fun ride that never got dull for one moment.
Just like his other movies, Ritchie’s latest is filled to the brim with energy and just by watching the movie it has his signature stylings all over it. It’s filled with a lot of quick cut edited action that never becomes nauseous and the editing in general is actually very smooth in how it plays out and can like most of the movie be clever. There are even some nice creative touches in how he would do scene transitions and how he would go about telling the story with the framing device like with how Fletcher describes imaging the story being told as a movie then we get to a camera playing film. It just gives the project a lot of style which I always like and on a related note I always love it when a movie has a stylish opening credits scene and this one does and I just appreciate when we get them as they can be really cool to watch. While I will admit it can border on the line of self parody in that it feels like someone trying to imitate Ritchie’s style than feeling organic or something like that, I only really felt that way in the beginning though as I felt Ritchie settled into a nice groove and we get some really fun and exciting sequences. Now it’s not really an action movie but the handful of scenes we get like a second act foot chase stand out are among the more suspenseful parts of the movie. I also must give some props to the production designers who are able to capture both the lavish lifestyles of the gangsters and the down and dirtiness that comes from the less than favorable streets of London and they bring this world of crime to life nicely. Even the soundtrack fits the movie nicely as it’s filled with many different types of songs, yet they fit in what’s going on in the scenes nicely and the actual score itself (composed by Christopher Benstead) serves it’s purpose as well, capturing the energetic nature of the feature.
Moving on to the cast and like I said this movie is full of big names with everyone having a blast in their respective roles. To start the most recognizable of the bunch is arguably Matthew McConaughney who is solid as Mickey Pearson, playing him with cool level headiness but when provoked he can’t help but just let out that rage against those who threaten him or his business. I think the character is interesting with his charming demeanor and despite being someone more than willing to use violent means to get what he wants, he still has something of a moral code that adds a bit of depth to him. But while he works as the central figure in which the movie revolves around, it’s some of the others who really make this movie pop and for me the two stand outs were easily Hugh Grant and Charlie Hunnam who give two of my favorite performances of last year. Grant is just having the time of his life as the eccentric and slimy Fletcher making this character who really isn’t a nice guy very funny in how he acts and I like the joke about him trying to get a screenplay off the ground. Meanwhile Hunnam gives the best performance I’ve seen from him as Mickey’s trusted right hand man, Raymond. He’s strikes calm yet a commanding presence when necessary, yet even he shows himself to get nervous about certain things and his deadpan wit can be really amusing. He and Grant play off one another so well and I honestly could just watch a movie about them talking and it would be really entertaining. Another favorite of mine was Colin Farrell as Coach, a… well fighting coach who gets caught up in all of this and even though his screen time is limited he makes a great impression as a very tough instructor whose always ready to teach anyone a good lesson and abides by his rules, yet he’s also a pretty nice guy at the same time and so he just made for a really fun personality whenever he showed up. Then there’s Henry Golding playing a different role than we’re used to seeing as Dry Eyes and he gives it his all swearing and acting all villainous as a nasty gangster who is the complete opposite of his rival. He served his purpose nicely which can also be said of Michelle Dockery who plays Micky’s wife, Rosalind, and she too has her moments of dry wit even if admittedly she doesn’t get as much to do as some of the others. Even some of the players who only appear a handful of times like Eddie Marson’s Big Dave (the newspaper editor who wants to take Micky down) and Jeremy Strong’s Matthew Berger (the billionaire whom Micky wants to sell his empire to) fill their roles nicely with the former being involved in a really funny scene later on. In general while some are naturally more prominent than others this is a large ensemble that doesn’t really have a wink link in it which and the ones who shine, shine brightly as they possibly can.
In the end I had a great time with The Gentlemen as it serves a nice return to the gangster genre for Guy Ritchie. The plotting can get a little too complicated and there are moments of self parody but it’s still jam packed with an investing story, clever writing, fun dialogue, lots of energy, and a jam packed ensemble full of winning performances. Ritchie’s style definitely isn’t for everybody but for those who enjoy the filmmaker’s work this a very strong outing from him and I had an absolute blast watching it. After helming a couple of big franchise flicks (which I did mostly like) it’s nice seeing him return to doing more smaller fare and I’m excited to see what he will do next as I think he is a talented director always does a lot of exciting things with what ever he does and this is no different.
Rating: A-
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