{"id":22674,"date":"2021-05-06T11:51:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T18:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22674"},"modified":"2021-05-06T11:51:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T18:51:40","slug":"wrath-of-man-feels-familiar-but-provides-a-decent-action-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22674","title":{"rendered":"WRATH OF MAN Feels Familiar, But Provides a Decent Action Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature from United Artists will be playing at theaters\nand drive-ins on May 7th<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heist movie has been around almost as long as cinema\nitself. In fact, so many have been produced in recent years that it seems as if\nthere is little about them that seems unfamiliar. The latest release featuring\ncrooks trying to steal a fortune and the persons out to stop them is Wrath\nof Man<\/em>, which is actually a remake of the 2004 French film, Le Convoyeur<\/em>\naka Cash Truck<\/em>. As one might expect, certain elements on display here feel\nobvious and indistinctive. Still, the shootouts and chases are exciting and the\nscreenplay does at least make an attempt to add a wrinkle here and there to the\ngenre formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A series of deadly heists involving cash trucks puts the\nemployees of a Los Angeles security firm under great duress and concern for\ntheir future. Good thing for them that Harry \u201cH\u201d Hill (Jason Statham) has been\nhired to starting working for the company. Despite being a guarded and\nless-than-sociable presence, the new figure quickly makes a big impression with\ncoworkers Bullet (Holt McCallany), Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett) and Dana (Niamh\nAlgar). After foiling a robbery attempt and making short work of the crooks\ninvolved, the group begin to wonder about H\u2019s past. Through the use of\nflashbacks, his checkered history begins to come to light and suspicions are\nraised not only about the protagonist himself, but whether or not the crimes\ncould be an inside job.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film is directed and co-written by Guy Ritchie (The\nGentlemen<\/em>, The Man from U.N.C.L.E<\/em>., Snatch<\/em>, Lock, Stock\nand Two Smoking Barrels<\/em>), an appropriate choice to tell a story about shady\nfigures. However, this feature is significantly more hard-boiled than his previous\nefforts. There is a lot of chatter early on as the various characters are\nintroduced, but the cadence does come across as odd-sounding in a downtown LA\nenvironment and isn\u2019t as effectively cutting or witty. There is an amusing zinger\nhere and there, but the humor that permeates the Ritchie\u2019s other work feels\nsidelined here. The movie could certainly use more gallows humor from its\nsupporting cast to alleviate the mood.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At least some of cast members are distinctive. This includes\nthe gruff but genial Bullet, who admires H\u2019s abilities while also confessing to\nhaving unsettling vibe hovering over his coworker. The tough-talking but fearful\nBoy Sweat Dave also helps provide some personal drama to the story as violence\nerupts. Alas, many of the supporting characters fade into the background or\nserve as target practice once the lead\u2019s true motivations become clear and the\nfinal heist takes prominence. However, the movie does offer one unique twist,\nin that H\u2019s focus actually has little to do with the money that the villains\nand employees are so obsessed with either stealing or protecting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On a technical level, the photography is sharp and the action is exceptionally well-staged. The opening sequence is captured using an impressive single master shot that doles out essential information while hiding important details for later in the story. There are some striking camera angles that also add some spice to the proceedings. Additionally, the movie uses temporal jumps to tell its story, which keeps one\u2019s attention through an otherwise straight-forward narrative. And lead Statham does well to engage viewers in his mysterious mission, even if he\u2019s less than a chatterbox and the reasons behind his actions will ultimately feel familiar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, this movie something of a mixed bag. Some of the\nearly dialogue exchanges come across stiff and some intriguing figures appear\nonly to be forgotten, but the effective storytelling still maintains interest and\nthe big set pieces are dynamic. So, while it is imperfect, Wrath of Man<\/em> should\noffer a few charms and work well enough for anyone simply looking for an action\nfix. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from United Artists will be playing at theaters and drive-ins on May 7th. The heist movie has been around almost as long as cinema itself. In fact, so many have been produced in recent years that it seems as if there is little about them that seems unfamiliar. The latest release featuring crooks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,697,9015,9263,10440,11054,14785,22825,24504,24505,24506,24507],"class_list":["post-22674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-action","tag-heist","tag-holt-mccallany","tag-jason-statham","tag-josh-hartnett","tag-niamh-algar","tag-thriller","tag-wrath-of-man","tag-wrath-of-man-film-review","tag-wrath-of-man-movie-review","tag-wrath-of-man-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}