PhantomKnight
CS! Gold
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 25, 2021 21:40:15 GMT -5
I'm fully aware that this'll probably end up being one of those movies that I enjoy more than most. Not that Wrath of Man is being looked down on as some terrible movie -- in fact, the consensus seems to be that it's a solid action movie, which I fully agree with. I just didn't expect to like it quite as much as I ultimately do. First of all, the story is a lot more engaging than I was expecting. Sure, it really isn't nothing we haven't seen before from the genre, but this is one of those cases where it's all in the execution. Guy Ritchie brings a lot to this movie. He directs it with such cool precision and style to the point where by the ten or fifteen-minute mark, I was saying to myself, "How am I THIS caught up in the movie already?" The whole First Act pretty much hits the ground running. Now, to be fair, the plot here IS pretty straightforward and even thin, but again, it all comes down to the style. Ritchie really taps into the gritty action movie potential of the plot, giving this movie more of an edge than I was expecting, which really helps make it a refreshing alternative to the sorts of action blockbusters we typically get nowadays. Ritchie also employs a non-linear story structure here, which...really wasn't necessary and doesn't add a whole lot to the experience, but it does serve to develop the Jason Statham character in an interesting way, plus it creates a unique sort of role reversal for his character and the ultimate villains of the movie within the context of a typical movie like this. Whereas in almost any other movie with a plot like this, the Statham character would be considered the bad guy and the villains the heroes, but here, it's reversed and it's an interesting little dynamic and spin that this film manages to pull off. Plus, Jason Statham honestly gives a really solid performance. Wrath of Man isn't going to win any awards, but it is a much more solid than expected action movie that really does draw you in and deliver on the goods. Chalk it up as one of 2021's biggest surprises for me so far.
***1/2 /****
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1godzillafan
Studio Head
Join Date: Feb 2017
I like pie!
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Post by 1godzillafan on Jun 25, 2021 23:03:21 GMT -5
Meh.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jun 27, 2021 12:15:15 GMT -5
I got through about half of this last night, I'll finish it off later but while it is pretty mindlessly entertaining the acting and dialogue is atrocious. The opening scene has some banter between two soon-to-be-robbed armored truck drivers and the acting is embarrassing. Like who signed off on this? No take two? I'll see how the rest of the movie goes.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Sept 26, 2021 18:55:04 GMT -5
Wrath of Man(9/19/2021)
Guy Richie seems like a bit of an odd figure in modern filmmaking in that he seems to embrace the “one for them, one for me” pattern in which directors will make big blockbusters for the studios in order to earn the clout to fund smaller and more personal projects… but with Richie these smaller and more personal projects tend to themselves be dumb gangster movies. His latest film, Wrath of Man, is kind of a good example of this as it feels more like the kind of movie that would be made by a jobber at EuropaCorp would make than the work of someone who recently made a billion dollar blockbuster for Disney. Being a Jason Statham I was expecting a pretty standard action movie where a guy with a “very special set of skills” hunts down bad guys for revenge, but as the movie opens up it seems Statham is just an ordinary security worker with an armored car company who’s just trying to work 9 to 5. That seems different… until it’s revealed that he’s actually just faking being an average person and he actually is a guy with a “very special set of skills” who’s out to avenge a murdered loved ones and thing play out more as expected from there. Really nothing special to see here, not even much of the wit that Richie was known to bring to some of his other hacky crime movies. There are some decent set-pieces here and there and the movie passes the time efficiently enough but the film is generally a mediocrity with some very clunky dialogue and twists that aren’t as interesting as the movie thinks they are. Give it a watch if you’re bored, otherwise not really something to seek out.
**1/2 out of Five
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