2020 Miramax
A cursory glance at some of my other content on this site will indicate that when it comes to films, my preference is horror. However I am part of an informal film club and my horror movie picks for 2020 haven’t released in the UK yet. So when it came to picking this month’s film for our group to see, there was one choice.
Cats
No, obviously not. We were going to see Knives Out but due to timings, couldn’t. We settled on The Gentlemen instead. Gangster films are not really my usual cup of tea and, going into it, I had only seen one other Guy Ritchie film (2009’s Sherlock Holmes) however I was aware of some of his work. Certain directors and actors get known for certain things, even if it’s not strictly true. Quentin Tarantino is known for incredibly bloody action scenes, Peter Jackson for fantasy epics, M Night Shyamalan for increasingly disappointing twists. Guy Ritchie is known for exceptionally British gangster films with lots of fast talking and creative editing.
The Gentlemen was incredibly funny, engaging and well paced. The cast was amazing, with my only complaint being that there weren’t enough scenes with them together. I was expecting a fairly standard film about rivalries and power struggles between different factions of drug dealers. What I got was a lot more than that. The comedic aspects of the film were strong throughout with some of the funniest moments came from the absurdity and the subversion of expectations. MMA trained street toughs turning a weed raid into a viral rap video. Bestiality based blackmail. Oddly hilarious accidental deaths. There were one or two moments that fell a little flat – like someone projectile vomiting or a man named Phuc with the obvious puns.
The framing device with Hugh Grant’s Fletcher narrating initially irritated me, more due my own personal preferences of storytelling, but I enjoyed how it was played with to show moments where he was deliberately exaggerating things in contrast to how they actually happened. That being said, the mock pitch meeting where he attempted to ‘sell’ the movie concept and the idea of a sequel to Miramax just felt incredibly forced.
Where this film really shines is the cast of characters. The idea of a largely ruthless gangster with a moral code isn’t a new one but it’s difficult to get the balance right and can sometimes lead to a character that comes across as too above the criminal world to believably be a part of it. It’s rare to have a character as likeable as gang leader Mickey Pearson, played by Matthew McConaughey. He exuded charisma while at the same time being a calculated killer and switched between the two effortlessly. Similarly, Charlie Hunnam’s Ray and Colin Farrell’s Coach who switched between polite and reasonable to ‘oh shit he just pulled a machine gun out, better run’ in seconds. They weren’t stereotypes or one dimensional, but well written, interesting characters who I would happily watch doing pretty much anything together and enjoy it. Hugh Grant got a little bit grating at times but it was nice to see him in a slightly different role than usual and as he was acting against the more dry character of Ray, they achieved a decent balance.
I also feel it’s important to mention the singular notable female character of the film, Rosalind Pearson (played by Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery), the wife of Mickey. In the hands of a less talented filmmaker, she could have ended up as the typical damsel in distress or walking sex object. Instead the audience gets a no-nonsense badass business woman who isn’t just an extension of her husband, owns her power and isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
These characters and the chemistry between the cast was immense and elevated the film to new heights. Combined with the snappy dialogue and you get a film that can be enjoyed multiple times. I recommend seeing The Gentlemen while it’s still in theatres and I know that when it’s released on DVD, I will definitely be purchasing it.
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