Wrath of Man (2021) Review

 "We ain't the predators.  We're the prey."

-Dave

Patrick Hill (Jason Statham) gets a job as an armored truck guard.  When his truck is attacked by thieves, Patrick proves he's no ordinary guard when he kills all of the attackers.  The other guards quickly begin to suspect Patrick isn't who he says he is and has another agenda.

I can't really talk about this movie without spoiling it.  So there will be spoilers below.  In short, this is a decent and entertaining action movie, but nothing overly special.  Go see it on $5 movie night.  SPOILERS BELOW!  You've been warned.

What Works:

Jason Statham has made a career by being a stoic, action bad-ass and there's a reason he always plays the same role, he's good at it.  He's more humorless than usual in this movie, but manages to be more of force of nature than a man.  He's easily the most likable character in the movie by being so utterly competent at everything he does.  It makes it easy to root for him.

The action sequences are all really well done.  Each bullet fired has an impact and each sequence feels dangerous.  It's not just random background extras getting shot in mindless violence.  Each sequence and action taken feel very deliberate, which I really appreciate in my action movies.

Finally, I really like that I had no idea who the inside man at the armored truck company was.  There are plenty of suspects, some better developed than others, but I was never certain who it would end up being until the reveal came along.  It was fun trying to figure it out and I'm glad I never did.

What Sucks:

This movie has a nonlinear narrative structure and I don't think it needed one.  I think the film would have worked better if we saw everything play out in order.  The twists and reveals that occur in the nonlinear story don't really feel worth it.  It's a very simple story.  There's nothing wrong with presenting it in a simple way.

Apart from Statham's character, there are no likable characters in the movie.  Most of the guards just makes sexist and homophobic jokes.  It's find to have a character or two like that in a movie like this.  It gives us a reason to cheer when they get killed, but to have every character like that really sucks the fun out of the movie and the locker room talk dialogue got old real quick.

The antagonists actually could have been likable characters.  A group of soldiers unable to find work after returning from war and forced to turn to crime is an interesting story.  We do spend some time with these guys, but we needed to see more of their struggle.  It would make them more interesting villains and the movie less black and white.

Finally, this is a fairly generic action movie.  It doesn't really do anything special.  We've seen all of this before.  It's fine and entertaining enough, but I was hoping for a bit more.

Verdict:

Wrath of Man is a fun movie with solid action sequences and a good performance from Jason Statham, but the nonlinear narrative is unnecessary, most of the characters suck, the villains needed more development, and the movie doesn't do anything super interesting.  It's a fun time, but nothing special.

 7/10: Good