EASILY TRIGGERED (WRATH OF MAN)

 

There are many mysteries for us to ponder during our time on this planet.

Does God exist?

Who killed JFK?

Are there really aliens living in the universe? 

Why does Guy Ritchie keep getting money to make movies?

Not long after the Mockney swagger of last year's irritating crime caper 'The Gentlemen,' comes 'Wrath of Man' - the same old, same old from a director whose obsession with Quentin Tarantino shows no sign of ending.

A US remake of Nicolas Boukhrief's French thriller 'Le Convoyeur (Cash Truck),' the film finds Ritchie substitute his usual London stomping ground for the mean streets of LA.

It reunites him with his granite faced 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' star Jason Statham in a macho action movie that thinks it's smarter than it actually is.

Using a time switching narrative, Statham stars as H, a gruff English recruit to a security firm whose trucks ferrying money are increasingly being targeted by armed robbers.

Hired by Eddie Marsan's Terry Rossi, H is put through his paces by Holt McCallany's Bullet Blaire during training which involves target practice and driving a truck.

Introduced to his colleagues, there's a palpable air of tension between him and the rest of the crew who include Niamh Algar's Dana, Josh Hartnett's Boysweat Hancock and Alex Ferns' Sticky John.

While out on a job, H's cash truck is targeted and Bullet is kidnapped.

While Boysweat panics and wants to drive away, our English chum is like Prince Andrew used to be around a Diablo Pizza with extra chillis.

Cool as a cucumber, he dispatches the robbers and rescues Bullet, much to the amazement of Rob Delaney's boss of the firm, Blake Halls.

There are more heroics from H in other jobs, with the masked raiders in another robbery retreating without the loot when he emerges from the van they have just attacked.

Not everything, however, is as it seems in Ritchie's movie as it goes back in time to explain how H wound up working for the firm Fortico.

We learn how he ended up on a path that sees him encounter Andy Garcia's FBI agent King and Scott Eastwood's trigger happy psycho Jan.

Working from a script he has written alongside Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, Ritchie trots out a feeble thriller that thinks it's Michael Mann's 'Heat' fused with the narrative structure of 'Pulp Fiction'.

However it's more like tepid fan fiction, as Statham scowls, stomps and growls his way through a boring, pretentious gun fest like a Poundland Bruce Willis.

The rest of the cast fare no better.

Algar, a talented actress, is saddled with dreadful dialogue and has little to do.

McCallany, Hartnett, Eastwood, Marsan, Delaney and Ferns also struggle with a poorly written script which has Statham at one point ask a colleague: "Did you go poo poo?"

The locker room banter is just feeble, with Statham's character rather predictably being called "The Limey" and a risible exchange where we are told he is called H "like the bomb or Jesus H."

In the few scenes he is in, Andy Garcia looks like he wishes he was in another movie.

And while the film is handsomely shot thanks to Alan Stewart's cinematography, it is far too flabby and could do with at least 30 minutes less bull.

'Wrath of Man' confirms - if confirmation is needed - that Ritchie is not the director he thinks he is.

In his head, he is still wedded to the belief that he's England's Tarantino - even when he's not plying his trade in London.

In reality, he's more like Michael Winner - a director whose ability to churn out the odd box office hit on both sides of the Atlantic puzzled, even though each film was a variation on an old tune.

Ritchie would not be out of place, firing out 'Death Wish' movies just like Winner.

However his heart is set on being called England's Tarantino, even though he doesn't seem capable of coming up with anything as original as 'Reservoir Dogs,' 'Pulp Fiction,' or 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood'.

Brace yourselves, my friends.

Ritchie has a spy comedy 'Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre' with Statham, Hartnett, Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes and Hugh Grant already in the can.

It's due to hit cinemas in January 2022.

Perhaps he will prove me wrong and produce a stylish, truly original comedy.

I wouldn't bet on it, though.

('Wrath of Man' was released in US cinemas on May 7, 2021 and was made available for streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and Ireland on December 10, 2021)

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