SummaryThe Gentlemen follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.
SummaryThe Gentlemen follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.
The Gentlemen is nothing if not a callback to the Locks of yesteryear, star-stacked and defibrillated with enough juice to jolt a gorilla out of cardiac arrest.
The Gentlemen is so blinkered by its outdated (and often offensive) alpha male perspective that it's blind to the elements that could have made it great.
Ritchie is looking back to the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and RocknRolla roots as if nothing has changed since. The Gentlemen is simply those movies with extra everything except inspiration. And sometimes more is less.
In something as herky-jerky and convoluted as The Gentlemen, the viewer has enough to worry about keeping the whole story straight without dreading the next tone-deaf thing to come out of an esteemed character actor’s mouth.
It was written with empty-headed desperation and directed with minimal imagination by Guy Ritchie, one of the most incompetent filmmakers of the century.
I'd only consider myself a casual Guy Ritchie fan, having enjoyed some of his previous British crime films, such as 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' just fine. The cast and premise of this film were enough to intrigue me to give this latest outing of his a go. Matthew McConaughey plays an American-born drug lord residing in England, who plans to retire and sell off his business. However, it doesn't go so simply, as he's marked for death by many hitmen and criminals who want in on his fortune and position of power, which in turn, involves various other criminals throughout England. The cast is easily the best thing about this film! McConaughey gives an always reliably charismatic lead performance, along with some rather humorous supporting turns from Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant to name a few. The action and fights are quite fun to watch, and there are some funny moments to be had. However, story-wise, it came up a bit short for me. Things get a little overly convoluted and the movie dragged itself out a little longer than I would've liked. The film took its time with a couple plot points longer than necessary too in my eyes. Overall, it's a welcome return to form for Guy Ritchie, as he's mainly been focusing on big budget fare like 'King Arthur' and the live-action 'Aladdin' as of late, and there's some funny lines and moments throughout, but the story's a little too convoluted and dragged out for its own good that it didn't quite justify the handful of moments I did enjoy. I anticipate those who are bigger fans of Ritchie's British crime films will enjoy it a little more than I did.
Boring! Kind of forgot where I was and what I was watching about 40 mins in. The movie attempts to come off like Oceans 11 or something of that nature but ends up seeming like a long-form Lincoln commercial.