“The Gentlemen” sees filmmaker Guy Ritchie returning to what he does so well – British gangster movies. Twenty years after his debut and my all-time favorite movie – “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” – Ritchie once again demonstrates he’s the master of this unique genre, this time with a much larger budget and a host of popular actors. It’s loaded with what makes his movies so great; tons of violence, cockney insults, snappy dialogue, cool music, and most importantly, distinctive and vibrantly colorful characters. In true to form crime caper fashion, “The Gentlemen” has no good guys in it; just lesser degrees of bad.
From a filmmaking standpoint, “The Gentlemen” is quite stylistic. The setting is in and around the London underworld, and the fashion of the characters is unforgivable in a good way. The story is told in narration format, and from various points of view. It’s got parts that fall out of chronological order, and like any Guy Ritchie movie, things are happening so fast you may find yourself a bit confused for the first twenty minutes. There’s a lot of moving parts, and not a lot of detailed exposition. We know what we need to know to make the movie work.
Matthew McConaughey stars as Mickey Pearson, an American ex-pat who runs an extremely profitable cannabis business. As usual, McConaughey is slick and smooth in the performance, showing that at 50, he still has what it takes to be a relevant star, especially in this type of role. It’s a standard heist caper film, and the rest of the plot consists of various ne’er-do-wells trying to buy, sabotage, or simply take control of Mickey Pearson’s empire. “There’s only one rule in the jungle.” The senior statesman of crime threatens a youngster trying to low ball him. “When the lion’s hungry, he eats!”
McConaughey is joined by equally big names such as Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant, who plays my favorite character in the film. As Fletcher, a sleazy private investigator hoping to blackmail Mickey, Grant is unrecognizable with his goatee and tinted shades, and serves as something of a narrator for the majority of the story. He blends panache with humor in the role of Fletcher, and interacts perfectly with Charlie Hunnam, who serves as Mickey’s top enforcer.
Though only in a handful of scenes, Michelle Dockery is excellent as Mickey’s wife Rosalind. Dockery is alluring in a noir sort of way. Her physical appeal is obvious, her ability to rub elbows with the boys underrated. My biggest complaint is that Dockery is underused. I would have really enjoyed seeing her involved in more aspects of the criminal empire, since she’s just as involved as all the others. Henry Golding, Jeremy Strong, and Eddie Marsan round out the main cast. It’s nice to see younger talent flourishing in these types of roles. The future looks bright for the genre.
The movie is also ripe with callbacks and homages to previous gangster/heist type movies. Having seen the aforementioned “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” about a million times, I thoroughly enjoyed a rehash of some of the dialogue and jabs. One scene in particular depicts two of the main characters opening up and reacting to something in the trunk of a car – clearly paying tribute to the classic scene in “Reservoir Dogs.”
“The Gentlemen” is an excellent movie that uses several of our upcoming themes (Mob Movie/Man Movie) to supreme levels. It has more twists and turns than an early 90s Tarantino film, and like most Guy Ritchie movies, will deserve a second or third viewing to fully grasp and appreciate its excellence. Here’s to hoping we get more of this sort of movie from Mr. Ritchie.
