Guy Ritchie is one of those directors that comes along once in a generation, whose films tend to go unnoticed, who never switches his style to appease the critics, and sticks to his guns on approaching his film making and storytelling. Even from his big hits such as "Sherlock Holmes" and "Aladdin" (which to me is the best Disney Live Action remake in the last few years, yes it was better than "The Lion King") to some of his fan-pleasing movies such as "King Arthur" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E", regardless of what the critics say they always manage to put a smile on my face, bring me to edge of my seat, and provide nothing but excellent storytelling. For his next film here entitled "The Gentlemen", Ritchie returns to his old school roots of English crime dramas to present us with one of the most underrated movies of 2020, with one of the best casts assembled since Ocean's 11. The cast including: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnan, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, and Eddie Marsan, all delivering their best roles to date. The plot of this film is all over the place in a great way possible, almost like "Pulp Fiction", the characters are all intertwined with one another in a story that jumps around with its timeline. For anyone who has seen a Guy Ritche film, this is a norm for his genre of film. The plot itself is hard to describe without spoiling the film, but in general Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey Pearson, a billionaire gangster who owns a Marijuana empire in London, who is looking to step away from the game and sell his kingdom to the highest bid, which ultimately leads to blackmail from a newspaper, schemes from other gangsters, and robbery from unlikely figures. Their is no telling where this film is heading, you lose count at when the story is taking place, whose point of view the scene is in, and just overall the intensity and the craziness of this film takes your breath away and makes you ask a million questions about what is going on in this film and what is gonna to happen in the end. The performances from all the mains in this film, including McConaughey and Grant, who give it their all and make them almost unrecognizable in some moments of the film. Especially Grant, which is definitely one of the most original roles he has ever been in, in terms of being a smart and creepy character. McConaughey has one scene in particular where I do not think he has gotten in depth with a character, maybe since "Interstellar", you are caught off guard by his toughness and it scares you to your core. The last aspect that makes this film enjoyable is simply its originally. We live in a world where sequels, reboots, or adaptions are the new norm and just take over the box office, while their is nothing wrong with this factor of cinema, it is just nice to see some originality brought into cinemas with such a great cast and director behind it. Say what you want about Guy Ritchie but his films always manage to tell such gritty and complex films that are fun to watch and give you a rush after that leaves you wanting for more. Overall, "The Gentlemen" is one of those few films that will go under the radar for the longest time, and I encourage all to watch its magic unfold.
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