Cast: Jason Statham, Rob Delany, Eddie Marsan, Gonzo, Pepe the King Prawn, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Trejo, Mel Gibson
Director: Guy Ritchie
Screenwriters: Guy Ritchie, Bill “Pepe” Barretta, Kelly Younger
Wrath of Man (or Hey it's a Cash Truck! if you are in Europe) is actually astonishingly well suited to the flexible outline given to it as it's based on an untrue story, yet it’s a waste in regards to those roots given that it opts to include many factual and real life events in it's runtime. Wrath of man has a breathtaking pace, it really moves from scene to scene at a hectic rate, yet rarely makes good use of its 'guest' cast (Delany is criminally underused, he is an astonishing talent) and, at only 119 minutes, often feels like a sticky mess of hot potatoes, sex and honey, almost like getting stuck in a Cash Truck driving to the next pick up with Gonzo and Pepe the King Prawn - which is to say, not the worst fate in the world, but far from living up to ample potential given it's premise, which we will get to in a moment.
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| I'm a celebrity get me outta here |
The plot of Wrath of Man revolves around Gonzo and Pepe driving around downtown Manchester England as private security contractors picking up cash from various businesses and delivering it back to 'central base' were it is then redistributed to the poor. Gonzo is the gruff character of the two chewing gum (he runs out), taking names and kicking ass, while Pepe is the joker always cracking one liners and chewing (literally) the scenery. Jason Statham plays himself, a Hollywood actor down on his luck looking to score a quick win by hijacking a 'bloody Cash Truck mate' in order to finance his next movie project, an art house spin off from The Fast and the Furious series called 'Deckards Noir'.
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| A laboured performance |
But enough about the plot, the celebrity cameos are even more flimsy. You have Yvette Nicole Brown as the sassy yet sweet company trainer who takes Gonzo and Pepe from street thugs to upstanding security contractors, Rob Delany well cast (and as I mentioned underused) as the gravel-voiced business owner and one that is so special I won't ruin it for you, but I'll just say 'racist frontman, founder and chairman for Papa Johns pizza empire' and leave the rest to your imagination. You will be surprised, and perhaps, a little emotional at what they do with it. There’s at least some value in getting Danny Trejo to sing in a nightclub scene where Statham's character conducts undercover work related to the cash truck routes, which cannot be said for the likes Alfonso Ribeiro and Eddie Marsan, who, in one-line roles, white and black up respectively as a pair of 'racist dwarves' in a shocking scene which has all of Hollywood talking as well as shaking their heads. I assume everybody had fun.
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| The cast on set |
Director Guy Richie, who also made the Sherlock Homes series of films as well as the critically acclaimed Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels movies, had been working on the script for at least two decades, a pet project, and eventually re-wrote it with the help of puppeteer-scribe Bill “Pepe” Barretta and Kelly Younger, who was part of the story team on 'Muppets Now'. Yet, if you didn't know that, you might assume most of the writing might have been be taken directly from, or, a charitable interpretation, perhaps, inspired by, those series of anti establishment Sprite averts that appeared all over northern America in the mid to late nineties. You know the ones I mean. It's that chaotic and nonsensical, and yet, it works, somehow.
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| Eddie and Mel |
Anybody who has ever spent at least five minutes with me in a public sauna knows my undying love of puns and dad jokes, but I have to say that there are some punchlines here that aren’t even puns, like when Pepe says he’s looking forward to 'fuck you up, cut you from neck to nuts, and eat whatever is left after the rats are finished with your corpse" and Gonzo says “Pepe you couldn't even finish your breakfast this morning, and that was only a little bit of plankton” That’s not a joke, it's just a nasty, searing and unwanted image and one that stays with you long after the performance. I would also question what such dialogue is doing in a childrens film, and yet somehow this got the 'U' certificate. In my humble opinion that should be looked into.
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| An intense scene involving rats |
Guy Ritchie completists will enjoy Wrath of Man on a very basic level, and I’m pretty sure younger viewers will find the odd laugh here and there. But there is also plenty here for the parents and guardians too. A muppet human sex show, a 50 minute car chase that has to be 'scene' to be believed, and loads of jokes that will no doubt fly over the kids heads. Guy Ritchie's latest doesn’t make me sad, far from it in fact, but I’ve never understood why a such a simple film with such a high budget was so complicated to develop. Meanwhile, anybody who has ever read an interview with Pepe the King Prawn knows that he’s a Guy Ritchie fanatic, so why does his performance seem so laboured here? Has it got anything to do with the rumours that he is currently dating Madonna, and this affected his relationship with Guy? I guess we will never know for sure, but there are enough high moments to counteract the low ones, and I would score this film a solid 7 stars out of 10!
Thank you for reading my first ever film review
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