The Gentlemen

I owe Guy Ritchie an apology. It was only the other day that I was lamenting the old-school Ritchie, the one who rose to prominence off the backs of the now-classic British gangster flicks Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

The Gentlemen is that return.

There is a caveat, though, and while not a spoiler, thinking about this may color your viewing: Ritchie only wrote and directed the first two (of eight) episodes, and to my eye they were the strongest. Not that the other six were bad, by any means, they just seemed to lack that vibe that underscores when Ritchie is doing something that he loves. And that was something else brought home while watching this series, that I felt that same heartbeat from those aforementioned earlier films.

There are plenty of winks, nods, homages, callbacks, and other cheeky references to the past Richie-verse, as well as a huge Easter egg for fans of a certain well-beloved American series about drugs and gangsters. While this eight-episode run felt complete in and of itself, I can only hope that Netflix has the smarts to commission more of the same from Ritchie. Perhaps the Lock, Stock or Snatch follow-up that he's wanted to do all these years?

2024.03.08 – 2024.03.13

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