Review of the film "Human Wrath" (Wrath of Man, 2021) by Sergei Volkolak

06.05.2021Sergey Volkolak

I'm very happy for Jason Statham (or Statham, I have no idea which is correct) - he finally starred in something other than "Fast and Furious". This has already started to really piss him off. I almost gave up on him as a movie fighter. And the fact that he plays the main role in this film, and even from such an eminent director as Guy Ritchie, made me as happy as it surprised me. Apparently, he hasn’t sold all his guts yet Vin Diesel and others like him. You look and Dwayne Johnson he will also star in something sane, although knowing his filmography, I don’t really believe it. Jason has a more impressive track record. So another gold coin was added to his chest. Maybe it’s too early to register him as a non-working pensioner? Of course, times "Carriers" It’s been a long time since he showed that dashing hand-to-hand combat, but he’s still capable of more modest body movements, and besides, in order to look cool in shootouts, neither age nor physical characteristics are important.

"The Wrath of Man" just one of those where the action component is represented only by shootings, there is no hand-to-hand combat here. This is noticeable in the trailer. By the way, I watched the trailer after watching the film itself to compare impressions. And it turned out that in the “trailer” the action was shown much more than in the film itself in percentage terms. Another deception. In fact, this is not an action movie, but a crime thriller with action elements, honestly. The amount of action is quite small. A little at the beginning, a little closer to the middle, and, of course, at the end the most intense and lengthy firefight awaits us. And the trailer (as usual) shows almost all the coolest and most spectacular moments, which I personally regard as spoilers. And I don't like spoilers. I prefer to know the bare minimum about the film before watching it, no matter at home or in the cinema. So there is almost no chance of being deceived in your expectations, since it is not clear what to expect.

The film starts with an episode of the robbery of a cash-in-transit vehicle by unknown persons, and the entire filming is carried out from inside the car body in a single frame. The crime is carried out almost perfectly, the bandits escape with the loot. This episode is extremely important for the plot, but you can forget about it for a while. Next, the story switches directly to the main character. It seems to be a common thing - a man came to get a job in the collection service. The job is very good, responsible, well paid. He begins to pass the standards, a kind of exam. He passes successfully and accepts congratulations on his new position. Well done, we can only be happy for him. The backstory of the main character is not revealed to us, but this is only because the time has not come for this. Everything will happen later, much later, but now it’s his first work trip (or one of the first) and his car has already been chosen by a gang of local robbers. That's "lucky" after all. If in other films banks, shops, casinos, and rich houses are robbed, here only collectors are robbed, as if only they have big money. The main character would not be Statham if he had not solved the problem alone with a positive outcome for himself, his partner, and the cargo. For which he was immediately awarded the proud title of “Employee of the Month”. Doubly well done, keep it up. It was here that some of his colleagues began to develop the first faint shoots of suspicion and distrust towards this subject. And the further you go, the more these shoots grow and take root. Well, the viewer should understand from the very beginning that the dude is not so simple.

Statham appears in his usual role. A stern look, a brick muzzle, a frowning forehead, a shiny bald head, and never scratches his tongue in vain. He has three-day stubble. I haven’t forgotten how to stand in a pretentious pose with my hands in my pockets and my back to the camera. Making a voice from the darkness while sitting in a chair too. All this is present in the picture; whoever is waiting for it, let him rejoice. For those who don’t want or who are tired of seeing Jason in this image, I can only sympathize, limit yourself to the trailer. You won’t see the British man’s naked, toned torso here, that’s clear. However, there is a scene where the upper half of his torso is shown and it is noticeable that he has rolled away. That relief is no longer there, which is not surprising, although with his genetics, if he wants, it won’t be very difficult to get in shape. And the motives for his actions and his backstory will be told when the film has already passed its halfway point.

The characters in the film fall into two categories namely: Jason Statham and all the rest. A similar phenomenon has already happened in his paintings, i.e. This is nothing new. Statham is the main star here, it’s clear as day, and despite the fact that there are a lot of secondary characters, not one of them is able to compete for audience sympathy with the main bald head of the English kingdom. This is despite the fact that the company she (the bald head) is not the last actors. Many even have considerable filming experience and near-star status behind them. For example, Josh Hartnett, whose career is going very unevenly. Fits well into the overall picture, although there is not much screen time. If there had been any no-name in his place, nothing would have changed. Got a good role Scott Eastwood, who for once managed to get rid of his pretty facial expression and fashionable hairstyle. Probably, seeing that all the courageous guys, led by Statham, had gathered around him, he decided to look like his partners and not be a black sheep and a black stork. Or maybe he just matured, matured, as they say, “overgrown with meat.” But the look also became harsher. I don’t know the rest of the actors, but I admit that I have seen some of them somewhere before, because their faces seemed familiar.

The action and its quantity have already been said. Presented purely as shootouts. Their character is not “tiring”, which is good, otherwise it would be boring, but the “good” ones rarely smear, they could do it more often. On the part of the camerawoman, the camera's shaking at times interfered with the perception, but there were few such moments, and there were not enough wide shots so that both sides taking part in the shooting could be seen at once, and it would not hurt to make the takes longer. With the wounds, it’s somehow not entirely clear; some hits to the body are shown, while others are left behind the scenes for an unknown reason. But what is absolutely clear is that you can safely forget about the abundance of blood shed. I fondly remember old-school action films, where hitting a bullet in the body was especially savored. Slow motion, splashes of blood, a large wound, well-acted pain and suffering, then one really believed in the lethality of weapons. And now, if this happens somewhere, then the blood is drawn and it looks like a Spanish shame. If you don’t know what Spanish shame looks like, now you know. But you won't see it here.

Most likely, this is not the author's project Guy Ritchie, because his signature tricks, such as clip editing or biting witty dialogues, as they say, cannot be found in the wild. Surely he is working again as a hired worker at the studios, as he was before "Gentlemen". I would never have thought that Ritchie was the director of "Wrath" if I didn't know in advance. And I’m glad that he didn’t shoot this project in his favorite genre of crime comedy, because I’m closer to thrillers and action films. By the way, this is not the original, but a remake of the French film "Collector", many people know about this, but how many have watched it? I didn’t know about this before the release of “Wrath”, and of course, I didn’t watch it and don’t know if I will. Perhaps someday. There is no such desire yet. But I can roughly imagine how Europeans shoot. I think this film is more modest by all criteria, less spectacular, less pathetic, less brutal, although perhaps in some ways it is better on the contrary. And although I haven’t watched the original, I’ll take the liberty of saying that the remake of this work was a success, which, of course, happens extremely rarely.

Sergey Volkolak

Especially for Fight-Films.info

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Tags: Wrath of Men, Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham, Josh Hartnett, Scott Eastwood

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