Wrath of Man

Directed by Guy Ritchie, Wrath of Man follows Jason Statham’s mysterious Harry Hill as he lands a job with a cash-truck company and essentially becomes a hero after he single-handedly takes down a group of would-be robbers. Filmmaker Ritchie, working from a script written with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, delivers an entertaining (albeit distressingly erratic) endeavor that fares best in its opening and closing stretches, as the movie, which kicks off with a thoroughly enthralling pre-credits sequence, boasts (or suffers from) a midsection that’s perhaps just a little too nonlinear and convoluted for its own good – with Ritchie’s predictably irreverent approach to the material resulting in a handful of lulls and a narrative that is, at parts, frustratingly difficult to follow. It’s clear, then, that Wrath of Man benefits substantially from its smattering of captivating interludes and assortment of perpetually engrossing performances, with, in terms of the latter, Statham’s typically commanding work matched by an eclectic roster of periphery players that includes, among others, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, and Eddie Marsan. (Scott Eastwood, cast as a vicious, violent criminal, is ultimately far more effective and menacing here than one might’ve anticipated.) By the time the action-packed and rather exhilarating climax rolls around, Wrath of Man has cemented its place as a wildly uneven yet mostly compelling effort from one of contemporary cinema’s most hit-and-miss filmmakers.

*** out of ****