Have we been overrating Guy Ritchie all these years? I used to think this guy was king of the caper. However, his last few straight-to-streaming films have, in a word, underwhelmed. Thing is, they haven’t just underwhelmed, these films have underwhelmed while remining Guy Ritchie products. So the follow-up question is which comes first: Guy Ritchie half-assing a promising film and the film gets the stream-first treatment OR does the stream-first treatment happen and then Guy Ritchie half-asses the film?
Oh, In the Grey wasn’t even bad, I suppose after Fountain of Youth I am much warier than I ought to be, especially given a likable cast. Why didn’t this film come out in a theater, huh? You can’t convince me that a slew of better capers in happening in its stead. I see all the films. Yeah. There are better. But not a better one every two weeks. That isn’t happening.
Screw it, let’s talk about this one.
Sid and Bronco (Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal) are extra-legal specialists. They aren’t underworld figures, quite; they’re the kind of guys you use to make a thing happen you you guess that underworld figures are going to intervene. Sid is the muscle; Bronco is the brains. They after often employed as fancy leg-breakers for extracting payments … which, admittedly is underworld shit.
Rachel Wild (Eiza González) is a lawyer making these moves. This role should be played by somebody ten years older, like Rosamund Pike (who is in this movie in a different role), but it’s a film. They need instant sex appeal to offset the gunplay. I think. Anyhoo, there’s a billionaire on a billionaire-controlled island who owes … can you guess? $1 Billion. And he won’t pay. And he won’t pay to the extent that when Rachel’s boss tries ti collect, billionaire has boss killed.
So it’s gonna take some specialists. And it’s gonna take not-the-courts, knowwhatI’msayin’? Enter Sid and Bronco and their bag of tricks.
I swear, ever since The Sting, every movie of this nature wants to be The Sting … couple of good guys, guys you’d have a beer with, just happen to do illegal stuff. You can’t stop them from doing the illegal stuff; they’d probably do it even if they didn’t get paid. But they’re still good guys, right? So the whole thing is an elaborate board game – how do you get an insulated strongman, firmly entrenched on his own turf, with his own private army and police, to cough up $1 Billion
using just the charms, wit, and arsenal of Sid and Nancy here?
I think it’s going to take some violence. Do you think so, too?
Some of this film is clever, of course. I don’t how people plan to defy strongmen. Writer/director Ritchie likely consulted a few. I’m not yet sold on Gonzalez, quickly becoming a Ritchie homie. Cavill and Gyllenhaal are likable and we will certainly enjoy them doing bad stuff to bad people and smiling about it. I hate that there is a body count over something that is strictly about money, but, hey, it’s the world we live in. Can’t say that I found In the Grey terribly memorable. That seems the nature of Guy Ritchie films. Mildly enjoyable, brain activating for a limited time, and then … blank slate. It is likely you’ll enjoy this film while you’re watching it. It is not likely that you’ll remember the title -or that you even watched the film- the following morning.
Two entrepreneurs, Bronco and Sid
Always kept their biz well off the grid
It comes it handy, I’ll say
To wreck a strong man’s day
A billionaire comeuppance? Splendid!
Rated R, 98 Minutes
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Genre: Caper!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: How much do you enjoy capers?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who prefer “messy” to “pat”
