The Gentlemen, written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie, directed by the latter - Nine out of 10

The Gentlemen, written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie, directed by the latter

Nine out of 10

Captivating, amusing, inventive, alert, The Gentlemen looks like a Guy Ritchie motion picture and, although it is not as original, exhilarating as Snatch - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-snatch-written-and-directed-by.html - or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-lock-stock-and-two-smoking.html this is still a very good film to watch during the pandemic, though some critics have dismissed it and one said something like ‘the director has only reached 2005 with his inclusion of YouTube and new themes’…this cinephile liked it.

One main advantage of deciding to spend time with this film would be the fact that is so fast paced – just like the aforementioned excellent features – that you find you forget for about two hours that the world is coming to an end – especially since the alleged most advanced part of it has chosen the Ultimate Buffoon to lead it and furthermore, this idiot has just reached a…peak in his approval ratings…for fuck’s sake, you tempt one to say that this new plague is welcome if it wipes out another deadly virus, that of the cave men that belong to the Cult of the Evil Baboon…

The plot of The Gentlemen is rather complex and gets the viewer engaged, unless of course he or she shares the views of the critics and then they should better watch something else, but following the adventures of Michael Pearson aka solid Matthew McConaughey (not a personal favorite though), his outfit, enemies, tabloid press and the bold team of fighters that enter the frame, under the guidance of Coach aka excellent Colin Farrell is rewarding.

Michael Pearson has a network of well hidden places where he grows marijuana plants, but he wants to sell it to another drug baron, Matthew aka rather hard to accept as a mobster Jeremy Strong (in the film he is actually weak, not Strong), and he shows him where he has one of the outfits, using the property of one aristocrat – the scheme involves many more – who has trouble in footing the evidently huge sums that such immense properties involve – with this Corona crisis, the expenses of a house that is twenty times smaller horrify me – and thus is an easy prey for the intrepid criminal boss.

Alas, soon after he mentions the sum of four hundred million pounds – or was it dollars – calamity strikes, not in a form of a deadly virus – but an attack on the operation that he has just presented to the potential buyer, where a group of very young men drops in, without much effort to hide their identities and confront the hoodlums that are strong favorites to win, if one makes bets before the clash of the titans…only the underdog wins, for these are highly skilled, wonderfully trained fighters, supervised by Coach aka florid here Colin Farrell.

Furthermore, these people film and post on the internet their daring enterprise, hence humiliating Michael Pearson, who seems to be dead right near the start, when we see him in a café and then in the following seconds there is blood sputtered on the glass of beer in front of him, presumably coming from his now perforated head…that might be a ploy though, we do not know yet what happens and it will not be written here.

Dry Eye aka very good Henry Golding and Lord George aka Tom Wu enter the frame, the former interested in getting control of the Pearson marijuana empire, and the latter having to suffer indignity and a revenge incursion form the angry Marijuana Lord, who puts some intoxicating substance into the tea (that of Lord George) and makes it clear ‘do not mess with me, because if I can get into your kitchen, be sure that I can get to you anywhere’ something like these words were said…

Coach finds about the exploits of his team and he is very unhappy and understands that this is no futile matter, so he tries to make amends, meeting with Ray aka interesting Charlie Hunnam, the right hand of Michael Pearson, the Lieutenant and consigliore, and stating that he apologizes, it is his responsibility, please do not harm my boys and let me do what you ask to get even with your organization…

The first thing they need is to find who gave the location for the incredible stunt operation, for this is so secret that nobody is in the know, except maybe five men, and the result of the investigation would be very unexpected, though this is not to be revealed, on the off chance that anybody reads this far and wants to see The Gentlemen, unlikely as that is…

Fletcher aka brilliantly portrayed by iconic Hugh Grant is an ‘investigative journalist’ or a paparazzo, working for a rather sleazy tabloid newspaper, and he has found in his work, trailing Michael Pearson and those associated with him, some very delicate details, which he is ready to sell for twenty million pounds, payable in seventy two hours – if anything happens to him, he has back up material which would be calamitous for the Pearson empire, since it will be in the public domain as soon as Fletcher will have disappeared or be found dead.

There are many humorous, perhaps even hilarious moments in this action packed thriller, and one that comes to mind is the scene wherein the gang has to return the estranged daughter of one of the British nobility that has placed his domain in the Pearson network, a setup that reminds one of the much more famous, classic now scene from Pulp Fiction, with the Samuel L. Jackson recitation ‘The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness…

A group of addicts is around the room and somehow the gangsters need to take the girl, even if the companions protest and eventually, one of them – the son of another ‘upper class, rich people’ this time from the corrupt Putin empire and this will offer another complication, some more pieces to arrange in this vast puzzle – is defenestrated and down near the corpse, a group of teenagers are filming everything and therefore a chase is in progress, for the gangsters need to get all the evidence and this is very amusing, for they lose breath, one is kicked by an opening door, slapstick comedy and then another reference to Indiana jones this time…if Harrison Ford shoots with a bored attitude the jihadist that was showing off his sword, in The Gentlemen the threating teenagers and some more grown men come towards Ray with a machete, but he takes out a massive, extremely powerful…machine gun