The film’s cast is top notch. The film’s cast is top-notch, featuring Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. The star of King Arthur, Charlie Hannam, known to fans as “Hunan”. Hugh Grant. Colin Farrell. Downton Abbey’s Missy Michelle Dockery, to name but a few.
As you can probably tell from the movie posters, the main characters are well-dressed and glamorous. But contrary to this elegance, the film tells the story of a vicious gangster. The hero, Mickey Pearson, is a British drug dealer.
Originally an American, he started his career in the seedy cannabis business during his early years as a student in England. Later, by fighting his way up the ladder, he becomes a big shot with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. But as his business was booming, Mickey suddenly wanted to cash out and retire from the business. So he finds a replacement: the American billionaire Matthew Berger.
Since the deal was to be made, it was only natural to check out the subject of the investment first. Mickey took Matthew with him and together they toured his cannabis factory. It turns out that Mickey has had a lot of dealings with British princes and nobles, and he has bought up land for 12 noble estates. Hidden beneath these estates is Mickey’s business empire. 50 tonnes of cannabis a year, the best herbalists in the world and the most advanced cannabis growing technology in the world. All this led Mickey to offer Matthew 400 million.
Moreover, Mickey even gave Matthew the patience to explain that 400 million was absolutely fair, because if cannabis was ever legalised in the UK, the market value of the business would be between £200 billion and £500 billion. But Matthew is not the only one who has his eye on this business. It has attracted the Vietnamese gangster Simon Tearless. Originally a minor player as one of leader George’s men, Simon No Tear was so ambitious that he tried to buy Mickey’s marijuana business but was disastrously rebuffed and taunted by Mickey to his face.
Coincidentally, at this juncture, Mickey’s farm No. 2 is vandalised by a gang of punks who not only steal the weed but also post a cool video of the robbery online. In a desperate move, Mickey shuts down Farm 2 and sets out to find out who was behind the robbery and how they knew where Farm 2 was. As the story progresses, a newspaper editor, a private detective, a boxing gym instructor, a young man on drugs and the Russian mob become involved in Mickey’s business.
A darkly humorous gangster drama unfolds. The film is certainly a continuation of Guy Ritchie’s previous films. The film’s stylised imagery is a combination of multiple narrative threads, quick cuts, a rock soundtrack and a host of laugh-out-loud British humour.
But beyond this style, the film is also a breakthrough and an innovation. The multi-character narrative of “Two Guns” and “Theft and Robbery” returns. Mickey, Raymond, Fletcher, Simon Without Tears, Matthew, Coach, Aslan and George …… form a story line that is intertwined and confusing.
And this time, the self-indulgent director Gay chose to let Fletcher tell the story. The story is already absurd enough, but Fletcher adds to it by adding more and more to it. For example, Fletcher introduces his characters in a highly exaggerated manner in order to portray them. For example, he also occasionally orchestrates the plot by adding a big action sequence between Mickey and Simon Tearless. Although these are later dismantled by Raymond to his face, the resulting suspenseful tension does add to the film’s overall narrative.
Another major highlight of the film is the constant dark humour. For example, the marijuana-stealing punks who make a video of a heist look like British street hip-hop. For example, the young stoner Aslan who accidentally falls to his death, only to have the punks take pictures of him. For example, the “pistol” paperweight that Matthew gave to Mickey, which fired the crucial bullet at the right moment. For example, the coach who kidnapped the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail with his students in order to silence him. Overnight, they recorded a story that had to be told between the editor-in-chief and a pig.
All this and more shows us once again that Guy Ritchie is full of talent when it comes to familiarity with crime films. The most surprising thing, of course, remains the narrative subtlety and interest. This has been the case in every one of Guy Ritchie’s crime films since Two Guns, with a multi-stranded narrative about a cast of characters who move between gangsters and the underworld.
They may be misplaced by coincidence, or misunderstood and cause a series of hilarious scenes. And between the many characters hooked together, it is enough to show the audience the absurdity of the world and the vagaries of destiny. On the internet, The Gentlemen has been criticised for the amount of politically incorrect scenes that have been filmed. In the film, for example, the Chinese-American gangster, Simon Tearless, is portrayed as a brainless villain with a touching IQ. Another example is the “greeting” given by a boxing gym student to his black brother, calling him a “black cunt”.
There are also plenty of cult elements, which will indeed make many people uncomfortable. But in the end, it’s this more or less muddled quality that is the essence of Guy Ritchie’s film. Expelled from school at the age of 15 for taking drugs, Guy worked as a bartender, built walls, fixed sewers and worked as a film projectionist. It is therefore the “gangster” atmosphere of the British streets that he has always been so intent on making. This is the kind of insight into the exotic ecology of society that can be found in “Two Guns” and “Theft and Robbery”.
The “gentlemen” in this film expand Guy Ritchie’s gangster universe once again. The suits, the boxing coaches, the elegant tycoons, the aristocrats, all have secrets that are hidden from view. Beneath their polished facades are bloodshed, betrayal, threats, firefights and other vicious and full-blooded tactics. And when all this is revealed from God’s perspective, it is as comforting as watching dominoes. Guy Ritchie is undoubtedly a genius at building this set of dominoes. He has written this hilarious “human comedy” with a subtle narrative, tight pacing, diverse characters and unexpected dark humour. Although the film still has its shortcomings, it is a return to the style of Guy Ritchie in recent years.
On the other hand, on a purely cinematic level, it is a top-notch crime “thriller” that is addictive, fun and entertaining, and well worth watching.
