After flirting with the spy thriller genre in The Man from UNCLE , after an unsuccessful affair with dark fantasy in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (the film did not even recapture half of its budget) and after a love marriage with musicals in Aladdin, Guy Ritchie returned to that what he does best - to the classic British crime drama on the verge of black comedy and farce.
I won't dare say that The Gentlemen is the best film in Richie's diverse career, but despite all the differences, it is not a shame to put it on a par with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000).
The same criminal world of Great Britain, only twenty years later. Former gopniks grew up and became very serious people: balanced, solid, respectable. They make acquaintances in high society, donate money to charity and are very burdened by the blood left on their hands since their tempestuous youth. But if something goes wrong, these elderly lions are ready to bare their fangs and show the presumptuous mongrels who is the boss in the jungle ... and if necessary, then again get their sleek hands dirty with a neat expensive manicure.
If the good old Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are films about the lower classes, then The Gentlemen tells the story of criminals from high society, gangsters of a new generation: educated, intelligent, keeping up with the times. They use the most modern technologies on their cannabis plantations, they value calmness and comfort, they changed the gun and knuckles for financial documents and a checkbook.
And when two such serious guys agree on the almost legal transfer of the now illegal, but in a very near future, quite clean business from one hand to another, an event occurs that, like the first falling domino, leads to irreversible consequences, transforming a calm business a deal in a real bloody carnage, with bases, counter-bases, machine guns and mountains of corpses.
The Gentlemen is history within history. The film begins as a speculative script that investigative journalist Fletcher (Hugh Grant) retells to Raymond (Charlie Hunnam), the consigliere, but rather an advanced butler, crime lord Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey). But Fletcher does not see the whole picture and does not know the whole truth, so you will have to return to the same events several times in order to look at the story from a different angle, from the point of view of other characters.
A masterful game in nonlinear editing is bearing fruit, until the very last scene you cannot say with complete certainty which of the characters in this play will live to see the finale, and who will ultimately outplay everyone else. As is the case with most of his films, Guy Ritchie himself wrote the script for the film, and this time he did not blunder.
The correct selection of actors and the creation of incredibly colorful screen images is Guy Ritchie's strong point. And in The Gentlemen, he seems to have outdone himself. This time it did without Brad Pete and Jason Statham, but it worked out well too.
In the main role, and personally it seems to me that the main thing in this whole story is precisely the calm, balanced and devoted to his boss Raymond - Charlie Hunnam, with whom Richie has already worked in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Matthew McConaughey masterfully embodied on the screen the image of a respectable, but ready to explode at any moment Mickey Pearson.
Michelle Dockery (Rosalind Pearson) seems to continue to play the same Lady Mary Talbot from Downton Abbey, only this time a lady who rose from the bottom and absolutely does not want to be there again, so she is ready to fight fiercely for her position. Hugh Grant is damn good at playing the unfamiliar role of the cunning and unprincipled blackmailer journalist Fletcher. Eddie Marsan (Big Dave) was perfect for the role of a resentful editor on the warpath. But, undoubtedly, the most colorful image went to Colin Farrell. His Coach is the best work of an actor since In Bruges (2008) and, perhaps, one of the most striking characters in the entire filmography of Guy Ritchie.
The Gentlemen is a classic early Guy Ritchie film. Yes, it is much more politically correct, much better in terms of technology. It is sometimes even too neat in terms of scenography, which makes some episodes seem too theatrical. He pokes fun at current trends and memes, but doesn't forget his roots. This is a black comedy slapstick disguised as a crime drama. Brutal, funny, intriguing. The Gentlemen look literally in one breath, and after the end of the film you want to go back and rewind some scenes and dialogues again. Well, let's wait for the digital version to be released and we will definitely do it.
Several excellent films were released this week, which are worth watching exclusively in the cinema and on the big screen. The Gentlemen is one of them. This is one hundred percent Guy Ritchie, a little more respectable than usual, but no less dashing from this. Be sure to watch this movie.
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