Netflix is once again proving that age is not a factor when it comes to content on its streaming platform. A movie that has been out for four years now has jumped onto the top-ranked charts at Netflix, logging almost 5 million views since it debuted on the service. That’s an impressive feat, because the film was only a modest success in theaters, earning $104 million against a budget of $40 million.
Wrath of Man is one of the many action B-movies that Jason Statham has in his filmography. Wrath of Man is currently sitting at the no. 8 position in Netflix’s movie rankings, and was as high as the no. 6 position in recent days. The film has 4.7 million views in its first week streaming, another success for Statham, joining the likes of Snatch, The Mechanic, Homefront, and Redemption.
Wrath of Man Reunites Jason Statham With His Best Director
Jason Statham in Wrath of Man / MGM – Miramax
Jason Statham didn’t burst onto the movie scene as a major action star: His first big breaks came in the indie crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), and the bigger-budget crime caper Snatch (2000). Both films were directed by Guy Ritchie, who is best known these days for directing Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes movie, Disney’s live-action Aladdin, and espionage comedy reboot The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Ritchie gave Statham his first big starring role in Snatch, where he played an amateur hustler who gets caught between some powerful gangsters and some unhinged gypsies. Statham and Ritchie would go their separate ways after the 2005 film Revolver; it would be a long road until they came back together for Wrath of Man in 2021.
In Wrath of Man, Statham plays Patrick “H” Hill, a “mysterious and wild-eyed new security guard for a cash truck.” One day on the job, Patrick “surprises his co-workers when he unleashes precision skills during a heist. The crew is left wondering who he is and where he came from. Soon, the marksman’s ultimate motive becomes clear as he takes dramatic and irrevocable steps to settle a score.”
If that sounds like the recipe of a standard B-movie action-revenge film, it’s because it’s definitely a familiar vehicle for the likes of Jason Statham or Liam Neeson. The distinguishing difference here is, of course, Guy Ritchie, who infuses the film with more style than we typically see.
In ComicBook’s review of Wrath of Man, critic Evan Valentine wrote, “On its surface, Wrath of Man is a movie that lacks complexity in its bones, which isn’t necessarily a knock against it, but the cut-and-dry aesthetic is another strike against Ritchie’s latest effort. A simplistic movie can work, but it needs to find a way to stick with audiences, which the Statham vehicle ultimately isn’t able to accomplish. Wrath of Man feels like a missed opportunity, which could have used more time in the oven and some possible rewrites to make the script that much stronger, creating characters that could resonate rather than feel like superfluous additions to move Statham’s character forward.
Wrath of Man is streaming on Netflix. Let us know your favorite action movie over on the ComicBook Forum!