User Reviews

As a whole, The Gentlemen was very distracting and odd. The dialog was completely loaded with metaphors and zingers, the editing (and random use of b roll) was jarring and over-stylized, there was no character growth, the meta screenplay insert didn't add to the story at all, to name a few. The tone was intended to be fun, but there was hardly any room for that (aside from the on-foot chase scene, the gym guys' battle video, and Hugh Grant's quirkiness). The dramatic moments could of been a little more tense, but not a single one of the villains posed any sort of threat to the protagonists. The good guys kind of steam rolled through the turncoats and rival dealers. Everything worked out and it was super easy for them, which might be a first for a crime movie.

The casting in the movie was excellent, but the character's motivations were so clean cut and obvious that the sense of mystery was essentially absent. The directing and acting shined. Yet, there was no momentum or character moments to really speak of; which, as a viewer, made the whole endeavor seem one-note.

Other noteworthy aspects were the cinematography and soundtrack. Nothing bad to say here.

I can see why lots of people would enjoy this movie, but I had a hard time getting into it.

Whip-smart 1-2-3 dialogue and film-editing, tension, some seriously laugh-out-loud moments, and a killer unorthodox script equals The Gentlemen.

There are a lot of similarities to Knives Out within, but it would be a disservice to say it's only a Knives Out - Guy Ritchie version, because this film deserves to stand on its own merits.

It's violent, it goes out of its way to be as anti-PC as possible, and its most definitely not for children under the age of 15...but most of all, it's highly enjoyable. All the performances are excellent. I can't fault this movie in any way. Maybe it isn't the bestest movie evar, but I can safely say it will be one of the best of 2020.

Charlie Hunnam is legitimately scary. McConaughey nails his role. Colin Farrell has a great comedic role. All the accents are spot on. Please give me more of this.

The rather unconventional visionary Guy Ritchie has been stuck in a Hollywood rut for the last ten years, ever since he committed to big budget, visual effects heavy films, such as Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and this year's underwhelming live action version of the classic Disney, 'Aladdin'. The British director goes back to his roots with the highly entertaining gangster film 'The Gentlemen' and surprisingly nails every bold punch he makes.

Although his 'Aladdin' made a ton of money, critically the film was a disaster. His return to the underground world of bribery, drugs, money-laundering and blood-covered-class, is as refreshing as it is entertaining. The film's script deals with two storylines at the same time, almost breaking the fourth wall with a tongue-in-cheek commentary on today's Hollywood and how big movie studios are hungry for some original yet overly mainstream basic content, to lure people into cinemas to go watch their films.

Beginning with a quick flash forward that ends with a bang and a pair of brains splattered all over a pint and a pickled egg at a typical British pub, we dial it back to a quiet evening at Raymond's (Charlie Hunnam) cosy house. When private investigator and intrusive sly fox, Fletcher (Hugh Grant), turns up at his house, he explains he has been keeping an eye on the different gangs around town for quite a while. Narrating most of the film and making some stuff up to make things more spectacular for himself, he reads his mostly finished movie script to Raymond, bribing him into funding his little project, or else he'll leak all the information he has on Raymond's boss Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), a white trash American expat who has build himself a marijuana empire.

Mickey is tired of the business and is trying to sell his highly profitable company to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires. But when one of the underground weed-plantations gets raided by a group of British lads, filming the entire thing and posting it on YouTube as some sort of fight--music-video, it quickly becomes clear some mobster bosses haven't been exactly honest about their meetings and loyalty towards each other. This is when the real war begins - while keeping it classy.

Ritchie co-wrote the story with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, who haven't written anything before. The idea of the entire film is prodigious, but the screenplay and dialogue is simply unprecedented by Ritchie himself, bringing joke after joke, while taking you on a thrilling ride full of genius twists and new ways to incorporate classic gangster cinema - Ritchie-style. Composer Christopher Benstead is debuting his very first score for a feature film with The Gentlemen, and knows exactly how to set the tone and drive it up to an eleven. A promising talent that won't go unnoticed.

Ritchie introduces new characters throughout the film, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat, surprising them with actual cinema, getting the best angles and money shots, thanks to his cinematographer Alan Stewart (Aladdin). When adding layer after layer to the story, going deeper into the underground scene, adding a new protagonist who's into human trafficking and Mickey's queen and wife, the cockney Cleopatra, Rosalind (Michelle Dockery), who owns a sanctuary for the ladies as some sort of business coverup to her husband's weed-empire, it becomes clear every role has a purpose and there are no extras involved in this story. One of the best acting ensembles in recent cinema history, and a welcome reminder from McConnaughey as to why he won an Oscar in the first place. But it's Colin Farrell (as the highly entertaining 'Coach') and Hugh Grant who steal every scene they're in with their remarkable wit that'll for sure land them some BAFTA-nominations.

'The Gentlemen' is a ruthless first-class kick in the teeth. Do not let the failures of Ritchie's recent career choices scare you, as this is actually one of the best films he's ever made. Who knew Guy Ritchie could raise the bar not just for himself, but for everyone out there trying to brush him off as a has been. 2020 is off to a great start!

Any Guy Ritchie film I've seen, he always delivers, especially when he's writer and director. This one follows in the tradition of "Rocknrolla", "Snatch", and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", the story layered with multiple sets of gangsters trying to outdo each other for the grand prize at the end of the flick. I got a kick out of the opening scene in which the bartender pouring Michael Pearson's (Matthew McConaughey) pint pulls down on the bar tap handle reading 'Ritchie Sewing Company', a self promoting piece of business I found pretty clever.

This one doesn't seem to be as hard to follow as the earlier mentioned films. All of them prompted a second viewing to catch all the nuance of the characters, but this one, even with the chronology going back and forth, was pretty straightforward. That's probably due to the format, essentially a narration of events by journalist Fletcher (Hugh Grant) relating his investigative work to Pearson's right hand man, bodyguard and driver Raymond (Charlie Hunnam). Colin Farrell's character is simply known as 'Coach', and he's drawn into the story by virtue of his gangsta underlings botching a take down of one of Pearson's weed farms. What could have been an ancillary character winds up being central to the outcome of the story.

And just about when you think it's over, another twist occurs with the introduction of a Russian oligarch and his mission of revenge for the death of his son. All the while you have to wonder how the picture's principal character, that would be Pearson, manages to come out of the story intact, considering all the bad guys who want to do him in. It's a fun watch if you go for this kind of stuff, made all the merrier by the script's creative use of the English language. You know, maybe I will watch this all over again.