Though he’s now well on the other side of 50 years old, the cue-balled killing machine known as Jason Statham has shown no signs of slowing down, continuing to crank out enjoyable B-movie action at a swift clip. His latest entry along those lines will be Wrath of Man, a reunion with regular collaborator Guy Ritchie that casts the star as the two kinds of men he plays best: a man on a mission, and a man with a secret.
Today brings the first trailer for the upcoming thriller, bristling with so many gun-reloading clicks that the sound starts to resemble rhythmic music. In it, sharpshooting Statham takes aim at crew after crew of bank robbers in his employ as part of a protection squad for armored trucks transporting huge sums of money.
But this enigmatic ‘H’ carries with him a dark secret that the clip below reveals after about a minute’s time: this man has set out on the warpath in search of the bastard who murdered his son all those years ago, a classic setup for no-holds-barred ass-kicking since the days of Death Wish. With each job, and each stickup team busted, he gets one step closer to bringing the killer to justice (of the bloody street variety, presumably).
While Ritchie’s last film The Gentlemen may have drawn mixed reviews – including from this publication: we deemed it “out of touch and out of time” – at least it’s positive to see him sticking to original concepts, as opposed to the flat franchise work that seemed to grind out much of his creative sensibility. The man’s most comfortable with hard-nosed, be-stubbled crooks, and this project should supply him with plenty.
As for Ritchie and Statham, they’re already hard at work on their next film together, a currently filming production called Five Eyes that will pair him with Aubrey Plaza as an MI6 and CIA agent joining forces. Firearms, globetrotting location shooting, odds-on grimacing? It’s got all the makings of another gem in the Statham filmography.
Published 29 Mar 2021
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