Guy Richies has become famous for dialing into British gangster culture and bringing an accurate account of just how crazy the UK’s underworld is.
With stunning cultural accuracy and a humorous retro approach, most who have not experienced the UK pub and club scene will see these films as just a bit of banter. Yet, those who have lived and had some experience of what happens in the UK will know that Guy Richies has really done his research. To hit the nail on the head, he spoke with some of the country’s most notorious criminals to bring accuracy to the culture of the UK underworld. An amazing job!
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels bring the crazy London Marajuna scene to light. Snatch is a reiteration of the East End’s gangster and underground boxing. While series like The Gentlemen are more fictional stories with a twist of original UK gangland culture.
The Gentlemen Series – 2024
This is another brilliant action comedy movie by Guy Richie. It is the story of a highly intelligent individual, Eddie, played by Theo James, who comes from a wealthy family and inherits his family estate. Characters that appear in the movie include Vinnie Jones,
Eddie soon discovers he has an extremely profitable Marijuana business on his aristocratic estate. Yet, he only recently discovered this is how his father’s family estate stays afloat. That’s it for spoilers! This is a good point to let you know because this revelation comes up early in the film and sets the scene for the following scenes and plots. At this point, Mickey wants out and decides to work on a plan to get the business off his property. However, not everyone agrees with the plan, which sets off a series of events.
Guy Richies has done it again! He creates a story of underhanded schemes, including blackmail, bribery, and plots to overtake his business. A star-studded cast, such as Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant, are included in this movie.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – 1998
A true Guy Richie-style movie containing all of his trademark characters and language. A real gangster movie in the true sense of the word, but very funny at the same time.
Initially, this movie is based on a massive card game. Bacon, played by Jason Statham, and two of his mates, Tom and Soap, are well into the game when Eddy, played by Nick Moran, joins them with a £100,000 stake and prepares to enjoy the game, believing himself to be a real card shark. It doesn’t go to plan, and Eddy departs, leaving behind a debt of half a million owed to the host of the game, Hatchet Harry. Harry gives Eddy just one week to pay back the debt before unthinkable methods are employed. There is a possible alternative, JD, played by Sting, Eddy’s Dad, can repay the debt by paying it off with his bar, lock, stock, and barrel. In the meantime, enforcer and debt collector Big Chris, played by Vinnie Jones, is on the heels of the lad’s debt.
Eddy and his mates try to devise countless schemes to make a lot of money quickly. How does this end up? Do they pay off the debt? One thing I love about this movie is that this is another movie with an ending that leaves you guessing!
Snatch – 2000
This is another classic Guy Richie movie in his usual style that I could not leave out of this Best Guy Ritchie Productions review. Jason Statham plays Turkish, an illegal boxing promoter who talks to a gangster, Brick Top, played by Alan Ford, to offer bets on Mickey, played by Brad Pitt, a bare-knuckle fighter.
The plan was for Mickey to throw his first fight, but Mickey didn’t go through with the plan. A second match is demanded by a very angry Brick Top. Another gangster, Frankie Four Fingers, played by Benicio del Toro, arrives and wants to place a bet for a friend on the fight. The plot deepens when a host of gangsters and criminals descend with a lot of interest in a stolen diamond that Frankie has and has arrived to sell. Another host of typical gangster stars are in the movie, including memorable performances by Vinnie Jones as Bullet-Tooth Tony and Mike Reid as Doug ‘The Head’ Denovitz.
Who wins? The Irish travelers or the East London gangsters? If you have watched Snatch, you already know, but its still always worth another watch – it is one of those movies that will remain on my hot list for years to come along with Lock Stock.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – 2015
During the 1960s, 1963 to be precise, when the Cold War was at its height, CIA agent Napoleon Solo, played in this movie by Henry Cavill, is given an assignment and is forced against his wishes to work alongside fellow agent Ilya Kuryakin, Arnie Hammer.
Their mission: to track down Gaby Teller, the Daughter of a missing top German scientist. The end goal of this assignment is to end a deadly plan by a criminal organization working to disrupt the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union with the use of advanced technology and nuclear weapons. The pair needs to find Gaby, bring her across the Berlin Wall, and put this global threat to an end before it’s too late.
Can they achieve the mission, or will the plan fail? Watch the trailer for clues!
Sherlock Holmes – 2009
Sherlock Holmes has become a Hollywood franchise and is also found across the gaming, iGaming (online slots), book, and audiobook industries. It is not a film I’d associate with the director, but one that was all the same, a box office hit and worth mentioning in this Best Guy Ritchie Productions review to add some diversity!
The legendary Sherlock Holmes has also been rehashed in Enola Holmes movies, which have become popular hits across various movie streaming platforms. It is safe to say we can always expect more from this franchise in the future.
There have been five gruesome murders in London, and the culprit must be found before the number grows. The highly skilled crime-fighting duo, Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downey Junior, and his long-term colleague Dr. Watson, played by Jude Law, are called in to solve the crime spree. The pair quickly gets to work and manages to track down the killer, Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong. Guilty as charged, Blackwood is eventually executed, which was actually part of his longer plan, strange as it may seem. Rumors quickly circulate that somehow Blackwood is unbelievably still alive. His remains are exhumed only to find the body of another person in the coffin.
Holmes and Watson now have to track down Lord Blackwood once again to put an end to his evil plans. Can they succeed?