Ritchie’s iconic cast of characters don’t disappoint
The influence of Quentin Tarantino on movies about criminals cannot be overstated. Americans have always had a fascination with crime. Our rugged individualism lends itself to a certain appreciation for those that live their lives outside the boundaries of the law, who make their own decision with little regard for the opinions of others, doing what they want on their terms as the ride headlongs into disaster.
We like the romanticism of the outlaw. Tarantino, who builds his worlds out of the pieces of other filmmakers, loves painting criminals as intelligent, long-winded, and clever. However, he also has characters with a more Elmore Leonard tale on the criminal mind—they’re stupid, lazy, and apparently eager to get caught. Tarantino gives criminals a hierarchy but ultimately, success comes from chance rather than talent. It’s all chaos.
Filmmakers have imitated this style since Pulp Fiction, probably none more than Guy Ritchie. Ritchie has his own, British spin on these tropes. His most famous—Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch—are great in their own right, with enough Tarantino to notice, but not overly so.
He’s made several more mainstream films since (Sherlock Holmes, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Aladdin) but his most recent film The Gentlemen is a welcome return to form.
The Gentlemen is a frame story told through a dynamic performance by Hugh Grant. Grant plays a skeevy private investigator name Fletcher, who works for Daily Mail, a style gossip magazine famous for bringing down rich jerks in spectacular fashion.
The editor has set his sights on Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an American born gangster that has built an illegal marijuana empire by exploiting rich aristocrats who have begun losing their wealth thanks to British taxes. Fletcher has stumbled onto a series of unfortunate events for Mickey and his organization, which Mickey hopes to unload to the tune of almost half a billion dollars.
The film jumps from gangster to gangster, showing how each player fits into the overall scheme, allowing Grant to chew some scenery as he unfolds the plot to Mickey’s right-hand man Ray (Charlie Hunnam) in an attempt to blackmail them to keep his paper from publishing the story.
There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, a smattering of humor, a dabbling of violence, and enough charm and style to keep the film interesting, particularly for fans of Ritchie’s earlier films.
As I mentioned, this is very much a return to form for Ritchie. It doesn’t feel as slapped together as some of his previous films—clearly, Ritchie has learned something from his bigger tentpole films. At times, it feels like a static, big budget action film but Ritchie has enough of an eye for direction that there are frequently interesting shots and visuals, as well as a collection of references to his previous film, if audience members have an eye for that sort of thing.
One of the more entertaining aspects of the film, at least for me, was how Fletcher tells the story as if he’s pitching a screenplay, allowing Ritchie to comment on the more meta aspects of the film. It’s entertaining to hear Grant tell the story using terms and actions being employed in real time by the film.
Grant is the standout performance here—the rest of the cast (Colin Farrell notwithstanding) is more or less adequate in their roles. Farrell is always fun to watch and while his role is minor, it is just as entertaining as Grant’s. McConaughey, on the other hand, plays a version of himself that we’ve seen in a lots of films. Were it not for the credits, you might wonder if the opening scene is just a new Lincoln commercial.
Here’s hoping Ritchie continues making films like this one. Bigger budget movies pay more, of course. There’s not a director out there that would turn down a Disney live-action remake. The money is just too good and I can’t fault them for it. Still, films like The Gentlemen are going to be Guy Ritchie’s legacy.
No one is going to remember who directed The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (or even that it was a film) but they’ll remember Brad Pitt asking Stephen Graham if he likes “dags” and they’ll remember the uncomfortably dirty Hugh Grant from The Gentlemen.