The Gentlemen: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

By Michael Momper

It's a rare art form nowadays for an action movie to be both viscerally entertaining and intelligently crafted. But I knew that The Gentlemen would deliver the goods just based upon writer/director Guy Ritchie's name on the poster. Some writers just have that kind of power.

Ritchie is a master craftsman in the cockney action genre, but this is only his third movie in the genre. His masterpiece Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, burst onto the scene in 1997 and immediately garnered him a reputation. Snatch followed in 2000 to similar acclaim, but since then he hasn't returned to the genre with any original entries. He wrote and directed both of these movies, and his signature stylistic violence, hilarious and profane dialogue, and swaggering goofy characters were on full display. We have been waiting twenty years for his return to the genre. Like the John Wick franchise, his cockney gangster flicks are a welcome reprieve from every day life, a chance to enjoy bloody action and fun dialogue without having to sacrifice brain function. They are full of twists, and crafted with such a confident style that it's infectious. When Graham and I saw Ritchie was returning to this genre with The Gentlemen we practically sprinted to the theater.

Any doubts we had, any uneasiness about the twenty years it has been since his last gangster movie, were quelled almost instantly with an absolutely gorgeous introduction scene at the beginning of the film. His soundtrack was immediately setting the tone, leading a preface exuding class and style but also reminding us of the impending bloodshed with images of guns, whiskey and debonair assassins. Hugh Grant is introduced almost immediately and plays Fletcher, a sly reporter who has dark secrets regarding the dealings of Ray, our main protagonist (played by Charlie Hunnam) and his marijuana millionaire boss, Mickey (played by Matthew McConaughey). Grant is gut-bustingly funny, and has at least 10 quotable lines throughout the film that Graham and I are throwing around constantly.

Guy Ritchie has a  penchant for dark humor that throws political correctness to the wind. This movie is an engrossing action film but could easily be a spy comedy as well. Collin Ferrell is hilarious and the dialogue is bursting with cockney witticisms and profane gangster quipping. There are double agents, there are bursts of bloodshed, and there is style. Glorious, genteel style.

 Anyone familiar with Ritchie's films will notice his confidence and swagger throughout. The rapid-fire and at times hilarious editing is back. The goofy and unusual characters are back. The fast and assured pacing is back. This is a total and complete return to form. Some critics have said that this movie won't please many people who weren't fans of his first films, only established fans of his. Maybe so. But to be a fan of action movies is very likely to be a fan of Guy Ritchie's cockney films. So I don't have complaints. Check his movies out as soon as you can, ya bloody toffs.

Rating: 94/100