Wrath of Man (2021)

Movie · 2021 · Thriller, Crime, Drama · 1h 59m · R · English

Curator score: 3.0/10 (423K ratings)

A one man army.

Overview

A cold and mysterious new security guard for a Los Angeles cash truck company surprises his co-workers when he unleashes precision skills during a heist. The crew is left wondering who he is and where he came from. Soon, the marksman's ultimate motive becomes clear as he takes dramatic and irrevocable steps to settle a score.

Ratings

Director

Guy Ritchie

Production

Miramax, Toff Guy Films

Cast

Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Rocci Williams, Josh Hartnett, Jeffrey Donovan, Scott Eastwood, Andy Garcia, Deobia Oparei, Laz Alonso, Raúl Castillo, Chris Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Niamh Algar, Tadhg Murphy, Alessandro Babalola, Mark Arnold, Gerald Tyler, Alex Ferns, Josh Cowdery, Jason Wong

Curator Review

Verdict

A lean, grim revenge-heist hybrid with sharp tactical action and a colder, more disciplined mood than most Guy Ritchie films. It works best as a hard-edged genre exercise; the plotting can feel overbuilt, but the violence, pacing, and Statham’s severe presence carry it.

Best for

  • Viewers who want a brutal, no-nonsense action thriller
  • Fans of heist logistics and revenge narratives
  • Audiences who like stoic, minimal-dialogue leads
  • People open to a darker, less playful Guy Ritchie

Skip if

  • You want the director’s flashiest, funniest crime-movie energy
  • You dislike grim violence and cruel subject matter
  • You need a tightly elegant plot over mood and momentum
  • You’re looking for a warm, character-driven ensemble piece

Overview

Wrath of Man is a stripped-down genre machine that trades the usual Guy Ritchie snap for something colder and meaner. The movie is built around procedure, patience, and punishment, with cash-truck logistics and revenge mechanics folded into a story that keeps tightening its grip. Jason Statham fits the material perfectly: he’s all granite restraint until the film lets him explode.

Worth noting

What makes it interesting is also what makes it uneven. The structure is deliberately scrambled, and the film sometimes feels like it’s working harder than it needs to in order to disguise a fairly simple emotional engine. But the hard, ugly mood is effective, and the action is staged with real clarity and force.

Bottom line

If you want Ritchie at his most playful, this is not that movie. If you want a bruising, efficient thriller with a nasty streak and a strong sense of momentum, it lands. It’s not a great all-around crime film, but it is a very watchable revenge picture with teeth.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Brian Tallerico (4★) · 2647 likes

Jason Statham tells Post Malone to suck his own dick. Ten stars.

Patrick Willems (3.5★) · 1309 likes

Josh Hartnett plays a character named “Boy Sweat Dave.” Hell yeah

davidehrlich (2★) · 1104 likes

The weirdest thing about Guy Ritchie’s “Wrath of Man” isn’t that his new meathead heist movie tries to combine the tricksy plotting of “Snatch” (which he made) with the ice-cold steeliness of “Heat” (which he most definitely did not), or that the entire story hinges on the protagonist buying two burritos from the wrong food truck. It’s not that one of the major action set pieces is set to an industrial dubstep remix of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” nor… more The weirdest thing about Guy Ritchie’s “Wrath of Man” isn’t that his new meathead heist movie tries to combine the tricksy plotting of “Snatch” (which he made) with the ice-cold steeliness of “Heat” (which he most definitely did not), or that the entire story hinges on the protagonist buying two burritos from the wrong food truck. It’s not that one of the major action set pieces is set to an industrial dubstep remix of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” nor… more

SilentDawn (4.5★) · 703 likes

83 Wrath of Man is Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie at the top of their game, but it doesn't feel quite like a game they've played before. Sure, the narrative is overtly familiar, a revenge story mixed with the tactical violence of a bank heist movie, but the structure effortlessly maneuvers through tired dramatic beats. It brings the viewer to unique perspectives of scenarios we may have already seen, and much of the tension is not from the action itself,… more

matt lynch (3★) · 537 likes

Somehow Guy Ritchie's 2nd or 3rd best movie. A total structural mess for no good reason, full of his Brit-gangster adolescent machismo, wildly stacked cast, and some of the tightest action of his entire career. I think I liked it? More words at InRO.

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Topics

crime thriller, revenge, heist, neo-noir, grim tone, violent action, procedural, Los Angeles, brooding, macho

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