The British filmmaker Guy ritchie, which opens in theaters today Awaken the fury (2021), has been able to offer viewers a single magnificent film, the vibrant Snatch: Pigs and Diamonds (2000); and others of great interest such as RocknRolla (2008), Sherlock Holmes (2009) and The Gentlemen: The Mafia Lords (2019).
In a greater or lesser mediocrity they are Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Sherlock Holmes: Shadow Play (2011), UNCLE operation (2015), King Arthur: The Legend of Excalibur (2017) and Aladdin (2019).
And the horrible thing Swept away by the tide (2002), above all, and Stir (2005), for its pretentiously washed-out script, the latter and not for its dignified stylized compositionIt is a truly incomprehensible catastrophe.
Guy Ritchie’s narrative muscle in ‘Awaken the Fury’
Miramax
After a grateful zenith, a forceful opening sequence shot marks the relentless approach with which the story of Awaken the fury. Intensity and life are in the events of the thriller, the incarnation of the characters, the mundane and always believable dialogues that newbies Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies have written with the English filmmaker himself and his eyes behind the camera, which records the terrible things that happen impassively but also interest, without missing anything important, and modifying our perception with its perspective.
Guy Ritchie also shows us the narrative muscle who knows how to exercise in his lucid works, but without his youthful effervescence; a muscle that is the result of the exciting profession in which he has already invested twenty-six years.
What lasts the entire presentation until the first fundamental turn is made up of an alternate succession of short sequence shots and counter shots to ensure a diverse montage, which James Herbert signs as the one in the eight previous Guy Ritchie films, and a good pace.
A recognizable but contained style
Miramax
Since then, it does not decline at any time and is built in an appropriate way, fostering the public’s curiosity, the mystery around the motivations of the fierce protagonist of Awaken the fury, in whose skin it gets Jason statham (Collateral) with its efficient interpretation almost unique and indistinguishable for the fourth collaboration with his compatriot after Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch Y Stir, while Five eyes (2022), in post-production now, will be the fifth.
Accompany you other competent actors, from Holt McCallany (Fight club) as Bullet, Josh Hartnett (The Slevin case) in the role of Boy Sweat Dave or Scott Eastwood (Snowden) like Jan to Andy García (The Godfather 3) in the shoes of Agent King, Eddie Marsan (v for Vendetta) as Terry or Darrell D’Silva (Hidden business) from Mike.
All of them in which it is perhaps the most content film by Guy Ritchie, following the mature path of The Gentlemen and, necessarily, as new version of French You convoyeur (Nicolas Boukhrief, 2004). But here are typical details of the British director. Not its striking accelerations and subsequent slow cameras, but the leaps in the script between events and their oral description by those who know them.
The long ones flashbacks means of Awaken the fury raise and expand the story and prop up its composure solid, his integritynarrative and the immersion of the spectators. With the invaluable help of Christopher Benstead’s robust score, which he repeats in a Guy Ritchie film after The Gentlemen and instills atmospheric restlessness thanks to its powerful bass string.
A superior remake
Miramax
Without a doubt, this thriller enter that select group of remakes of works shot in other countries that surpass the original. So he joins, for example, to Essence of woman (Martin Brest, 1992), The signal (Gore Verbinski, 2002) or Infiltrated (Martin Scorsese, 2006), who pass their hand over the face of Women perfume (Dino Risi, 1974), The circle (Hideo Nakata, 1998) and Dirty game (Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, 2002).
Because Awaken the fury it’s another world compared to You convoyeur, extremely boring, unlikely to stupidity at times and aesthetically bland. And it is very clear that Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie have converted the libretto of Nicolas Boukhrief and Eric Besnard, not great, but pretty cool; light years away in dramatic complexity and ingenuity.
Like the unmistakable style and resources of the English director make a fool of his French colleague. Even when erecting the tension what explodes in a fast-paced way in the final stretch, filling us with a rage similar to that of Brother Jason Statham and with the opportune exorcism of the conjured demons. It gives us what it promises and it does it in an honest and suggestive way. Little more could be asked of him.
