Wrath of Man was released in several countries on April 22, 2021, and in the United States on May 7. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed $104 million worldwide.
Plot
The story opens in Los Angeles, California, where an armored-truck robbery leaves two guards and a bystander dead, which sets off a series of events told in four acts.
A Dark Spirit
Five months after the opening scene's robbery, Patrick Hill joins Fortico Security as an armored truck guard. His manager, Terry, commends his references, and company trainer "Bullet" nicknames him "H". Hill barely passes firearm training and gets off to a rocky start with his colleagues, including “Boy Sweat” Dave and Dana Curtis. During a pickup, Bullet is taken hostage and Hill convinces a panicked Dave to comply with the robbers before he disposes of the entire crew with expert marksmanship and merciless efficiency. Hill is questioned by FBI agents investigating the first robbery. The FBI investigators bring their suspicions about Hill to their superior, Agent King, who tells them to leave Hill alone. Hill receives a dossier of Fortico employee files and an autopsy report from the opening scene's murder. Three months later, Hill and Bullet become the targets of a new heist. They are waylaid in their truck in Chinatown, but the robbers flee at the sight of Hill. Hill continues to investigate his coworkers and they become increasingly suspicious of him.
Scorched Earth
The act opens as a flashback. Five months before joining Fortico, on the day of the opening scene's robbery, Hill is present with his son Dougie. Revealed to be a thief himself, who was working with a robbery crew, Hill grudgingly agrees to monitor an armored truck's route, leaving Dougie in the car. A different group of robbers hijacks the truck and spots Dougie. Hill races back to his son and watches as Dougie is murdered before he is also shot and left for dead. Three weeks later, Hill wakes up in the hospital and meets with King, who gives him a list of suspects and agrees to temporarily turn a blind eye. Hill is revealed to be Mason Hargreaves, a notorious crime lord; he is promised that he will be allowed to avenge Dougie's death and summarily kill the robbers if he can bring down all of them at once. Accordingly, and determined to find Dougie’s killer, Hargreaves and his men – led by Mike, Brendan, and Moggy – kill nearly every thief on King's list of known armored-truck burglars, without results. Mike voices his concerns about retaliation, and Hargreaves agrees to lay low in London, but actually lied. He instead assumes the identity of Patrick Hill and joins Fortico to continue the hunt alone. It was Hargreaves' own crew who attempted the Chinatown robbery until Mike recognized Hargreaves.
Bad Animals, Bad
Some time before the opening scene's robbery, a group of disgruntled Afghanistan veterans – Carlos, Sam, Brad, Tom, Jan, and their former sergeant Mike Jackson – decide to become thieves. Their first robbery results in $110,000. With help from an unidentified guard who served under Mike Jackson, they decide to pull off a more ambitious heist of an armored truck. This robbery is the robbery seen at the start of the film. During this Fortico heist, Jan needlessly shoots the guards, as well as Dougie and Hargreaves. Hargreaves, as he is shot, sees Jan's face.
Liver, Lungs, Spleen & Heart
Five months later, the veterans reunite to steal over $150 million from the Fortico depot on Black Friday weekend. Bullet, still believing Hargreaves' cover story, reveals to Hargreaves that he is Mike Jackson's inside man- this connects him to the murder and confirms Hargreaves' suspicions that he helped kill Dougie -threatening him into cooperating. The crew takes the depot hostage, but an alarm is triggered; during the chaos, the hostages from the Fortico staff revolt and mortally wound Jackson. The gang, including Bullet, then slaughters the majority of the Fortico staff, though Hargreaves manages to kill all of the robbery crew except Jan, Bullet, and Jackson. The three escape, but in greed, ultimately all attempt to turn on each other at once, with Jan murdering the other two.
At home, Jan finds a phone in one of the money bags, planted by Hargreaves to track its location. Hargreaves confronts him with Dougie’s autopsy report and slowly reads it aloud. Dougie was shot in the liver, both lungs, the spleen, and finally, in his heart. In his final act of vengeance, Hargreaves reciprocates each wound, shooting him in the same parts of the body that Jan shot Dougie. Abandoning the money, Hargreaves tells King his task is done and drives away.
Cast
Jason Statham as Patrick "H" Hill, aka Mason Hargreaves
In addition, Andy García appears in a cameo role as FBI Agent King, Post Malone appears as a truck robber, Niamh Algar plays female Fortico guard Dana Curtis, and Eli Brown appears briefly as Hargreaves' son, Dougie, whose murder sets the plot in motion. Comedian Rob Delaney also makes an appearance as Fortico's CEO, Blake Halls.
Production
Development
In October 2019, Guy Ritchie was announced as writing and directing an English-language remake of the 2004 film Cash Truck, with Jason Statham set to star.[6]Holt McCallany joined later in the month.[7] Filming began in November between Los Angeles and London, with Scott Eastwood, Jeffrey Donovan, Laz Alonso, Josh Hartnett and Niamh Algar added to the cast, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer taking on U.S. domestic distribution for the film.[8][9][10] In January 2020, Raúl Castillo was added to the cast.[11]
Christopher Benstead, who previously worked with the director on The Gentlemen, composed the film score. Sony Classical released the soundtrack on May 7, 2021, coinciding with the film's release.
Release
The film was released internationally in several countries, beginning on April 22, 2021, including Russia and Australia.[12] It was later released in the United States on May 7, 2021.[13] The film was originally set for release in the United States on January 15,[14] but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later rescheduled for April 23,[15][16] before being delayed two weeks later. The film was released in China on May 10. In the United Kingdom, the film was originally going to be released by the British arm of Lionsgate. The film was ultimately released, though, straight to streaming as an Amazon Original on Prime Video on 10 December 2021.[17]
Wrath of Man grossed $27.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $76.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $104 million.[3][2] In the U.S., the film was released alongside Here Today and made $3 million from 2,875 theaters on its first day of release, including $500,000 from Thursday-night previews. It went on to debut to $8.1 million, topping the box office.
Men made up 60% of the overall audience, with 72% being over the age of 25.[19] In its second weekend the film dropped 55% to $3.7 million, finishing second behind newcomer Spiral.[20] In the film's opening weekend in Australia, it grossed $1.34 million.[12] It also made $201,000 in New Zealand and $3.79 million in Russia.[21] In its third weekend of international release the film made $13.5 million, as well as $18.5 million in its Chinese opening weekend.[22]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 256 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Wrestling just enough stakes out of its thin plot, Wrath of Man sees Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham reunite for a fun, action-packed ride."[23] According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 38 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 77% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 57% saying they would definitely recommend it.[19]
Alonso Duralde of the TheWrap wrote: "Ritchie's reunion with leading man Jason Statham delivers the scheming, the shooting, and the swearing that the director's fans have come to expect, by the bucketload."[25] Mae Abdulbaki of Screen Rant gave the film a 3.5 out of 5 stars rating, stating that "the film balances multiple storylines with intense action sequences and, despite pacing issues, packs a major punch that will keep audiences riveted."[26]
Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge said: "A few years ago, when Sam Mendes left the Bond franchise, Ritchie's name was floated as a possible replacement. He didn't take the gig, but Wrath of Man shows that he certainly could have, classing up his signature technique while never quite abandoning the cockney swagger."[27]Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing: "Tired, uninspired and meandering, Wrath of Man is a step backward for Ritchie, a step sideways for the stoic-for-life Jason Statham (reteaming with Ritchie for the first time in 16 years) and a misstep for anyone who invests their time and money on 118 minutes of such convoluted and forgettable nonsense."[28]
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com was enthusiastic, rating it four stars out of four (the highest grade on the site), with him calling it "one of [Guy] Ritchie's best-directed movies – and one of his most surprising, at least in terms of style and tone. Gone is the jumpy, busy, lighthearted, buzzed-bloke-in-a-pub-telling-you-a-tale vibe of film like Snatch, RocknRolla, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and the like. In its place is voluptuous darkness, so sinister that you may wonder if its main character is the devil himself... This is less of a self-consciously clever Quentin Tarantino-Guy Ritchie maneuver, and more in the poker-faced, un-ironic spirit of classic older films that inspired them, like The Killing and The Killers and Criss Cross," while describing the presentation of Statham's character as similar to those in Clint Eastwood's Western films High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider.[29]
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