My Review of "Gentlemen"

Gentlemen was kind of an enigma when it first came out. When the trailer for this movie came out I thought that they had so many quick cuts that I couldn't tell what it was about. I sort of forgot about this movie for a while until it came out. At that point they used a font to advertise this movie that made me think it was related to the Kingsman franchise. You have to compare the movie posters to know what I'm talking about. I decided to check it out anyways.

This movie starts out with what looks like a murder and then it goes into a scene with a guy named Ray who seems to be the main character and his antagonist counterpart Fletcher. Ray is the right hand man to this huge mob boss by the name of Michael Pearson. Fletcher seems to be some sort of sleazy photographer looking to scoop information to blackmail them.

The story is interestingly narrated from the beginning with Fletcher trying to explain this movie script that he had written out. He wants Ray to pay for information that he's scooped up on him and his organization and for rights to the movie script he's written. I thought it was a pretty clever idea and pretty self aware of itself.

I also have to give Hugh Grant for being a chameleon when he played as Fletcher. He really is an accomplished actor that can play many different types of roles. You have to have seen his older movies to really notice how much he's advanced his craft.

So Fletcher pretty much explains the backstory behind the events that come up to the first scene that we've seen at the beginning of the movie. Apparently the guy that gets shot in the beginning of the movie is none other than Michael Pearson. Oddly enough this seems more and more unlikely as the movie progresses because we start seeing how ruthless and calculated Michael Pearson really is.

The movie makes sense from start to finish and that's some of the beauty of this movie. You can tell that they had meticulously crafted the plot for this movie with little details to throw off the viewers from what had actually happened. There's tons and tons of twists that they use misdirection to throw us off. I thought this was really well crafted.

To add to the beauty of this movie they added tons of style in the ways they deliver each of the scenes. They could be interesting camera angles for conversations or really well made action scenes. It's really cool how they were able to make these action scenes very sparse but yet we still it seems like there was a lot of them. I could have sworn they were really brutal but we don't really see too much violence. It's just done so well that we can feel it despite it not actually happening in front of us.

In addition to the tough guy position of these characters it's really suave how they kept the main characters in a "gentleman" demeanor throughout the movie. Each of the characters are always calm and cool despite the craziness that is going on around them. It really gives them a debonair appeal to them.

The comedy throughout the movie at times isn't really politically correct but there are times when it is very funny. It really wasn't expected that this movie was going to be as funny as it turned out. They have some clever dialogue throughout the movie that can make you chuckle. Again it's the gentleman charm that consistency that separates this movie from a lot of other crime mystery action movies.

I would say that this is a pretty original movie and fairly innovative. Today it's hard to see movies innovate but I can say that this movie attempts to separate itself from the pack and it does feel fresh. That's another reason to check it out because it is definitely not cookie cutter.

Overall, I would say that I had a great time watching this movie from start to finish. It was a very pleasant surprise that I didn't expect. I have to give this movie an 8.5 out of 10. It was a movie that was so well crafted that I'd probably watch it again. This is a movie to suggest others to watch and I suspect it will be a cult classic later on.