GENRE | Jason Statham Steals the 'Wrath of Man'

"You're a real social magician."

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / VVS Films

Tough guy director Guy Ritchie revisits his well-worn gangster fare once again alongside frequent collaborator and action star Jason Statham. Based on the much more hilariously titled 2004 French thriller Cash Truck, Wrath of Man is another stylishly fun heist flick with all the usual twists and turns that fade away as quickly as they appear.

Statham stars as the very mysterious Hill (aka "H") who's an even more soft-spoken armored truck driver on some sort of vague mission in Los Angeles. Co-starring a seemingly random plethora of American character actors from the beefy Holt McCallany to basic cable bad guy Jeffrey Donovan and pretty boy coward Josh Hartnett, Ritichie shifts back and forth through time before what really happened is carefully revealed with his usual dramatic flair.

Wrath of Man starts refreshingly enough but once Hill's motivations are uncovered, the film becomes much more typical in the style of a revenge thriller. Once we learn everything is entirely a series of missions within missions, one's enjoyment depends highly on your investment in the missions in the vein of Michael Mann's seminal crime drama Heat or one of its many knockoffs.

Ritchie and Statham reteam to make Wrath of Man into another slickly enjoyable entry in the heist genre with some British gangster tricks, but it's hard not to think they're punching below their weight class. Despite the style and clash of violent action, the ultimately hollow film tries almost too hard to be cool.

Wrath of Man is available to stream on various digital platforms and through video on demand starting May 25th.


More | YVArcade / AV Club / Indiewire