Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin may possess’own’nurse been a billion-dollar earner on its release in 2019, but it seems beloved by few. Ritchie’s first wish following that Disney tentpole’s release, then, was to return to the type of swaggering, populated-by-men-with-silly-names crime flick with which he made his bones: The Gentlemen was awash with individual called things like Lord George and Hammy, gabbing like there’s no tomorrow. The director’s latest, Wrath Of Man, however, while undeniably also a crime flick (in fact a remake of 2004 French film Le Convoyeur) and featuring a Bullet and a Boy Sweat Dave, feels like a step in a novel direction. Despite the presence of Ritchie’s old mucker Jason Statham — it’s the pair’s first time working toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her in 16 years — this thriller is no-nonsense, nifty and propulsive, much like Statham’s character in it, shadowy security guard Patrick, more commmerely’barely referred to as ‘H’, and at one point referred to as “a cold, cold cunt”. Something we don’t recall happening to the Genie of the Lamp.###Sure, there’s a certain pretension to Wrath Of Man. There’s the Old Testament title (the original moniker, ‘Cash Truck’, would possess’own’nurse made in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a perfect double-bill pair-up with Money Train); the cello riffs on the score; the cryptic, Pulp Fiction-esque chapter titles (‘A Dark Spirit’). But despite all that, it surges in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ward with pleasing efficiency. We meet H on his first day on the job at an LA armoured-car firm’enterprise called Fortico — he’s escorted around by Bullet (Mindhunter’s Holt McCallany, elevating scenes with his refined brand of soul-tired bonhomie), butts heads with Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett), endures gratuitous homophobic banter, and is quickly established as the enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gest wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile ass in a group of intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile asses. He’s also, inevitably, not what he appears to be, with the truth eked out over a series of flashbacks. The clue’s in the title: the wrath belongs to H, and he’s itching to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure into it.###Ritchie knows how to use Statham, keeping him grim and quiet, like Charles Bronson in knitwear.###Ritchie knows how to use Statham, keeping him grim and quiet, like Charles Bronson in knitwear. (Just as well, since when he does speak he’s sorrowful’distressing’woeful’heartbroken’mirthless’dejected’dismal’lugubrious dled with the odd clunker like, “Did you go poo-poo?”) When the star drops out of the movie in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a chunk in the middle, he’s sorely missed. But the mystery of why H is so pissed — and who exactly is the subject of his pissedness — is satisfyingly unravelled. And aldespite’in spite of’albeit the canvas acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s a little too wide, with Andy Garcia dropping in in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a few sketchy scenes as a law-enin/with regard to’concerning’regarding cement jefe known as ‘The King’, and even a bit of distracting business involving Rob Delaney — the villains of the piece, when introduced, are hissably in/with regard to’concerning’regarding midable. Scott Eastwood, son of Clint, peculiar ly makes an impact in his short screentime as a in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer jarhead with an oil-black soul.###If Wrath Of Man feels somewhat derivative of the superior Heat, even opening with a cash-truck heist gone awry, then the third act feels like it’s bent on one-upping that film’s iconic South Figueroa shoot-out. There’s a never-ending reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue er of shell-casings; you can practically smell the cordite stench. It’s exciting, brutal, jacked-up stuff, and one of the best-orchestrated sequences in the Ritchie oeuvre. More of this sort of thing, please, Guy.