Many crime films are about the lowly protagonist trying to get in. The Gentlemen is about what it costs when a kingpin tries to cash out and leave the business. The Guy Ritchie film follows Mickey Pearson, played by Matthew McConaughey, an American who built a vast marijuana empire under England’s aristocracy. He wants to sell his empire, retire, and disappear.
If you’ve watched the film before, chances are that what comes to mind isn’t one single scene. It is rather the feel of the film. You remember the sharp suits, snippy dialogue, and a sense that in every conversation there is either a deal or threat being made. Like many other Ritchie films, the world of this movie is convincing and raw, making you believe it is truly happening.
The film’s structural choice is its style of narrative. Fletcher, a private investigator played by Hugh Grant, presents the story to Mickey’s right-hand man, Ray, as a screenplay that he wrote. So that means we are watching a film about a film being pitched. This means that nothing can be fully trusted. He is going to embellish and invent new characters, and the so-called “truth” is in the hands of the framer. By using this gimmick, Ritchie conveys that in this world, whoever controls the story controls the power.
At the center of the film is Mickey’s desire to leave the crime world. He wants to take the empire he built, hand it off cleanly, take his money, and leave. But the characters around him don’t let that happen so easily. Buyers emerge with alternate motives. Rivals smell blood and want in. A tabloid editor wants to expose his empire. Mickey is surrounded by people who will benefit from him continuing his empire, and the harder he tries to leave, the more they push back.
What makes this film really shine is its obsession with class. Mickey not only built a successful marijuana empire, but one underneath the nose of the English aristocracy, hiding many of the farms under estates of noblemen. Ritchie loves to explore how the upper class presents itself and how it truly survives. Many of the noblemen that rent their land to Mickey are broke, desperate, and willing to look the other way as long as they get their rent money. That, I believe, is the irony of noblemen condoning illegal activity.
The Gentlemen ultimately is not a glamorization of a criminal life. It is a film about how the ones at the top are the last ones allowed to leave the game. Guy Ritchie turns the crime-drama genre into a story with a sharp narrative, wit over brutality, and characters who seem neither good nor bad. The movie reminds us that the world is built on leverage, and any move at the top has an impact down the chain. While typical crime dramas show you how to win, this one shows you that winning and getting out are almost never the same thing.
So if you have a free afternoon, throw this movie on for a twist in the crime-drama genre. It is a film you can watch twice: the first time to follow the plot, and the next to catch the things you missed on the first watch. The dialogue is witty, and Ritchie hides some of the best jokes in the background. And let me tell you, you’ll be talking in a British accent for the rest of the day after watching it.
