The Big Picture

Guy Ritchie’s fast-paced storytelling and casting choices shine in
The Gentlemen
, a series that improves on the movie.
Vinnie Jones stands out in his role, providing warmth and heart to a dark story of crime and corruption.
The show doesn’t directly connect to the film but enhances Ritchie’s style with a new story full of double-crosses.

A new project by Guy Ritchie has become somewhat of an annual tradition, at least since 2019, as the British filmmaker has released a new film almost every year since. He’s most known for his fast-paced style, quick cuts, and specific sense of humor, often bringing his distinct way of storytelling to tentpole films like Sherlock Holmes, Aladdin, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, to a myriad of results.

Lately, Ritchie has been branching out from his particular directorial style with films like the gritty action crime-thriller Wrath of Man and the military action-drama The Covenant. His next film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, looks to be a mix of his familiar approach with a historical twist. However, before the aforementioned film hits theaters in April, Ritchie has something different up his sleeve in The Gentlemen, a spin-off Netflix series to his hit 2020 movie of the same name.

This isn’t the first time a Ritchie film has been adapted into a television series. His debut movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was turned into a show in the early aughts, while Snatch was made into a Crackle original in 2017, but without the director’s involvement. Meanwhile, The Gentlemen holds the distinction of being Ritchie’s first time directing for television. The question is: does his artistic flair translate to the small screen?

How Connected Is ‘The Gentlemen’ to the Movie?

The Gentlemen movie boasts an all-star cast with the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, Michelle Dockery, and Henry Golding, each playing vibrant and memorable characters. While one would think that a series with a Netflix budget would allow these characters to return for a guest spot, that isn’t the case. Instead of being a direct sequel or retelling of the feature film, Ritchie uses the show to tell a new story that shares a similar setting and themes to the original movie but also follows a completely new set of characters. While that may initially seem disappointing to fans of the movie, they’ll be delighted to know that this new series is even better than the original.

The Gentlemen begins with Eddie Horniman (Theo James) being pulled away from military service when told that his wealthy father is on his deathbed. Upon the patriarch’s death, it is largely expected that Eddie’s oafish older brother Freddie (Daniel Ings) will inherit the family’s sprawling estate, but that’s not quite what happens. Instead, Eddie is announced to be his father’s true heir, and with that, he has to tend to the sketchy finances that his father left behind.

The two brothers soon learn that their father earned a large chunk of the family’s fortune through a marijuana empire operating underneath the fancy estate. The business is overseen by the sharp and mysterious Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) while her father, Bobbie (Ray Winstone), is serving time in a nearby prison. Against the rest of his family’s best interests, Eddie forms an uneasy partnership with Susie, as he slowly becomes more and more corrupted by Britain’s criminal underworld.

Guy Ritchie’s Style Is Perfectly Suited for Television
Image via Netflix

While each of the eight episodes of The Gentlemen runs between 42 minutes to a little over an hour long, you never quite feel the length, and that’s primarily because Ritchie’s fast-paced way of telling a story is in full effect. It’s also part of the reason why the show is even more successful than the movie. The 2020 film features a vast ensemble of characters with multiple storylines running in tandem and often overlapping with one another, and as entertaining as it is, it’s sometimes a bit convoluted. That isn’t the case with The Gentlemen, which is successfully able to play like the best kinds of British crime series packaged in Ritchie’s particular way of filmmaking.

While the show isn’t without an overarching arc, there’s also a serialized nature to the storytelling that works to its benefit. While the first two episodes, which are directed by Ritchie, serve as the basic set-up, the following installments have Eddie and Susie crossing paths with various characters, be they criminals, nomads, or fight promoters. At the same time, while The Gentlemen does have its fair share of mean-spirited violence, it also allows us to become attached to the characters, even if a lot of them are morally corrupt.

Ritchie is no stranger to inserting double-crosses and heel-turns in his films, and he does it again in The Gentlemen. The series takes joy in having viewers second-guess who exactly they can trust and who is the story’s true hero, if there is even one, especially because almost all of these characters are quite frankly messed up.

‘The Gentleman’ Makes Great Use of Its Cast

While James may have risen to fame for his role in the oft-forgotten Divergent movies, he has quickly been able to rebound with juicier roles, much like Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart did after Twilight. After a scene-stealing turn in The White Lotus Season 2 earned him his first Emmy nomination, his performance as Eddie Horniman feels like the perfect next step. James can play the most charismatic figure while also having his character come across as a selfish prick in the same scene.

Scodelario plays perfectly off of James as Susie, creating such an unpredictable character that you never know where her true intentions lie. She could be a true ally to Eddie and his family as well as a potential love interest, since there are some hints of flirtation, or a villain. While Eddie’s brother Freddie can come across as extremely obnoxious and instantly hateable, both Ings and the writers know how to use the character in a way that makes him vital to the story but doesn’t have him overstay his welcome. In the meantime, Giancarlo Esposito, Max Beesley, and Winstone excel at playing some of The Gentlemen’s slimiest and most corrupt characters. While they may not have as much screen time as some of the other performers, they make every moment count.

However, Vinnie Jones, who plays the estate’s loyal gatekeeper, Geoff, is the series’ biggest standout. Jones, who is typically typecast as a character with a hard edge, successfully plays against type the true heart of the show. Even while the rest of the characters embark on an increasingly dark path, the series can still find warmth in Geoff’s surprising arc.

While adapting a film into a television show hasn’t always worked out before, The Gentlemen is the perfect example of improving an already perfectly good movie by expanding on it to tell a new, and even better, story. The Netflix series has all the things that fans of Ritchie could want but also feels accessible to those who aren’t quite familiar with the auteur. It’s bloody, foul-mouthed, fast-paced, and it doesn’t disappoint.

The Gentlemen REVIEWThe Gentlemen exemplifies all of Guy Ritchie’s greatest strengths paired with a committed cast and compelling story.ProsThe series maintains Guy Ritchie’s specific directorial style and flair, making for fast-paced episodes.Everyone feels perfectly cast, but Vinnie Jones in particular is the series’ stand out.The series improves upon the movie’s chaotic nature and balances all the different storylines. ConsThose expecting direct connections to the 2020 movie, might be left feeling disappointed.

All eight episodes of The Gentlemen will be available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. starting March 7.

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