Review Roundup For Wrath Of Man

Guy Ritchie's latest movie, Wrath of Man, hits theaters today, May 7. The film reteams Ritchie with Jason Statham, who starred in the director's earlier movies such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Revolver.

The movie is a loose remake of the 2004 French film Cash Truck, and focuses on a tough security guard who is hired to protect a truck transporting millions of dollars around LA. But he has an ulterior motive for taking the job, which leads to a bloody revenge mission.

Wrath of Man has been met with very mixed reviews so far, with some critics praising its dark, intense atmosphere and gritty action, but others criticising the plot and dialogue. It currently holds 65% on Rotten Tomatoes--so here's what the critics have said about Ritchie's violent action thriller.

Wrath of Man

• Directed By: Guy Ritchie
• Written By: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies
• Starring: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso
• Release Date: May 7 (United States)

Entertainment Weekly

"There's little of the swaggering visual style Ritchie made his name on: For all its casual brutality, there's a basic-cable blandness to his execution here that feels less stripped-down than merely cheap. The social and sexual politics of The Gentlemen were generally execrable, but at least it had flair; without that, Wrath is just another loose bag of lizard-brain thrills and wood-block dialogue: too ugly to be camp, too grimly familiar to feel new." -- Leah Greenblatt [Full review]

The Wrap

"Whether you think Guy Ritchie is commenting upon overblown masculinity or merely indulging in it, his twist-laden crime sprees tend to be adrenaline-fueled fun, and in that regard, Wrath of Man is no exception. Ritchie’s reunion with leading man Jason Statham delivers the scheming, the shooting, and the swearing that the director's fans have come to expect, by the bucketload. --Alonso Duralde [Full review]

The Playlist

"Who these guys are and why they do the things they do boil down to moments that see the characters just telling the audience their motivation wholesale, with dialogue that would have gotten a person banished from an after-school-special writer's room. It's oppressively stupid and only gets worse as Wrath of Man moves towards its altogether expected and uninspired finale." --Warren Cantrell [Full review]

AV Club

"Statham's status as a shiny hard-boiled egg might explain the thinness of the movie surrounding him: It's ultimately just water. The Gentlemen, doofy as it was, had clear utility as far as Ritchie shaking off his big-studio responsibilities to have fun. Wrath is also fun, after a fashion, only with the grim undercurrent of a movie more interested in generating violence than truly motivating it." -- Jesse Hassenger [Full review]

Den of Geek

"This taut, suspenseful tale of vengeance is deathly serious and features one of the more stoic performances of Statham's career. While the script certainly robs Statham of one of his trademark charms, his ability to be equal parts fun and fierce, that doesn't mean Wrath of Man is a total drag; it's a fairly traditional heist flick buoyed by unnerving intensity from Statham. If only Ritchie could have infused more of his typical bombast behind the camera." -- Nick Harley [Full review] 3.5/4

RogerEbert.Com

"The completeness and sureness of the movie's aesthetic is a joy to behold, even when the images capture human beings doing savage things. You don't really root for anyone in this film. They are criminals engaged in contests of will. But the film is not a value-neutral exercise. There is an undertone of lament to a lot of the violent action. Every character made their bed and must lie it. More often than not, it's a deathbed." -- Matt Zoller Seitz [Full review] 4/4

The New York Times

"As Kirk Douglas in The Fury and Liam Neeson in Taken have shown, there are certain men with whose family one ought not to mess with. Here Statham is one of them. The gravity of H’s true mission accounts for the movie's tone. Ritchie reveals crucial story points with clever time-juggling editing, and keeps up the tension well into the movie’s climax, which delivers exactly what the viewer will have come to hope for." -- Glenn Kenny [Full review]