Now, Ritchie returns for the sophomore season, and Eddie Horniman, the 13th Duke of Halstead, is moving up in the world — both criminally and within the ranks of the British aristocracy. But playing gangster comes with a price, and if Eddie wants to claim his kingdom, things are about to get very bloody indeed.

Duke Eddie Horniman (Theo James) fully embraces his role as a ruthless crime boss, expanding his cannabis empire internationally alongside Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario).

The Rise of the Duke

Season One of The Gentlemen was a fresh melding of international crime and the old-money world of the British establishment, taking the collision of those two worlds to wonderfully outrageous new heights.

Former soldier Edward “Eddie” Horniman found himself unexpectedly elevated to the position of the 13th Duke of Halstead, only to discover that his ancestral estate was deeply entrenched in the criminal empire of the Glass family. Finding himself thrown into the jungle, Eddie adapted like every good predator.

As we enter Season Two, however, we discover a man whose growing ambition is pushing him into newer, and considerably more extreme, territory.

The result is a gripping, dynamic melodrama that completely captures you and pulls you deep into Ritchie’s twisting narrative of double-dealing, backstabbing and the relentless pursuit of ultimate power.

For Theo James’ Eddie, that pursuit means vying for absolute control of his ancestral homeland — and potentially reaching even higher into the echelons of British power. Beginning with an in-media-res sequence before rewinding to reveal how Eddie reached this precarious position, the season introduces a thoroughly transformed Duke.

Eddie has embraced his gangster life with glee. And James is clearly having an absolute ball.

There’s a deliciously cocky, self-assured energy to his performance as Eddie uses his newfound criminal aura to get exactly what he wants. But the further he pushes, the more his ambitions begin to spiral beyond his control.

It’s a gleeful bit of television, and James is clearly enjoying every deliciously ruthless moment of it.

Susie Glass Makes Her Move

Eddie isn’t the only player hunting for ultimate power. Kaya Scodelario’s Susie Glass is back and once again proves why she remains one of the most formidable figures in Ritchie’s criminal universe. With the Glass family empire expanding, Susie is cutting deals, forging alliances and searching for new avenues of growth.

Scodelario gives Susie that same intoxicating combination of elegance, intelligence and danger that made her such a standout in the first season. She’s always calculating three moves ahead, and watching Susie operate within this increasingly volatile criminal ecosystem remains one of the series’ greatest pleasures.

The power struggle between Eddie and Susie gives the season much of its delicious tension. They’re allies when it suits them, rivals when necessary, and two people who understand precisely what the other is capable of.

Enter the Guv’nor

And then there’s Bobby Glass.

Ray Winstone’s criminal patriarch was largely a looming presence in Season One, but Season Two brings him firmly into the spotlight — and once Bobby gets going, watch out.

He’s the utter Guv’nor, that’s for sure.

Winstone is a force of nature. He’s the kind of performer you simply can’t look away from, and his expanded role as Bobby Glass gives him plenty of opportunity to remind audiences exactly why.

Every scene carries weight when Winstone enters the room. Bobby doesn’t need to shout to command attention, but when the gloves come off, Winstone unleashes the full force of the character. The boss is back.

A Very British Bloodbath

The momentum of The Gentlemen Season Two doesn’t let up for a moment.

This second chapter moves with tremendous force, constantly throwing new complications, betrayals and bursts of violence into the mix. And naturally, everything is polished and impossibly posh in that uniquely Ritchie fashion. The tailoring is immaculate. The estates are enormous. The criminals are increasingly unhinged. And the violence is absolutely brutal.

One of the season’s undeniable highlights arrives in Episode Seven, ‘This Mad Circus’, where Vinnie Jones’ gamekeeper Geoffrey Seacombe gets the opportunity to unleash absolute mayhem. The all-guns-ablaze siege sequence is pure Ritchie — chaotic, kinetic and gloriously excessive.

It is compelling television precisely because the series knows exactly what it is. An eight-course meal of old-money gangster extravagance. And audiences will be thoroughly satiated.

Brothers, Blood and Betrayal

At the thematic core of Season Two is an impending reckoning between Eddie and his loose-cannon, morally questionable brother Freddie (Daniel Ings).

Their relationship becomes one of the season’s driving forces, running parallel to Eddie’s increasingly ambitious ascent through the criminal hierarchy. There are moments when their dynamic carries the faintest echoes of The Godfather Part II, particularly in the way family, power and betrayal become increasingly inseparable.

But this is Guy Ritchie we’re talking about. And just when you think you know where he’s taking you, he yanks the wheel.

The eighth and final episode, ‘Bring Me The Head’, delivers maximum carnage. The chemistry between James and Ings is superb, with their fractured brotherhood providing the emotional engine for a finale that ultimately pushes Eddie beyond any remaining moral boundary.

By the closing moments, Eddie has gone all the way. There are no more lines to cross. And it’s utterly MENTAL.

Final Verdict: Long Live the Duke

Season Two of The Gentlemen is a gleefully excessive return to Guy Ritchie’s criminal playground, delivering one of 2026’s most entertaining streaming television experiences.

Aggressive but refined, elegant yet ferocious, The Gentlemen wraps audiences inside its world of aristocratic criminal ambition and refuses to let go.

It’s violent. It’s funny. It’s ridiculously stylish. And beneath all that swagger is a fascinating examination of what happens when privilege, power and criminal ambition become impossible to separate.

The Duke has risen. And God help anyone standing in his way.

Season Two of The Gentlemen is now streaming on Netflix.

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With The Gentlemen, Ritchie returns to the criminal underworld he knows so well, expanding the world of his 2019 film into an eight-part Netflix series that trades London’s backstreets for sprawling country estates, aristocratic dinner parties and a very lucrative underground cannabis empire. The result is a gloriously stylish, brutally funny and endlessly quotable slice of British gangster television.

At its centre is Edward “Eddie” Horniman (Theo James), a former British Army officer who unexpectedly inherits the family estate and the title of Duke of Halstead following his father’s death. Unfortunately for Eddie, the inheritance comes with a rather significant complication: beneath the ancestral grounds sits a sprawling weed-growing operation controlled by criminal kingpin Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone).

Suddenly, the Duke has rather more to worry about than maintaining the family silver.

Aristocracy meets Organised Crime

The beauty of The Gentlemen lies in the collision between two distinctly British institutions: the aristocracy and organised crime.

Eddie initially wants nothing to do with the criminal enterprise operating beneath his family estate. His objective is simple — get out, preserve the family name and return to something resembling respectable society.
Naturally, absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

Enter Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario), Bobby’s fiercely intelligent daughter and the woman responsible for keeping the family business running. Stylish, composed and every bit as dangerous as she is charming, Susie becomes Eddie’s reluctant business partner as the pair navigate a rogues’ gallery of gangsters, billionaires, conmen, boxers and assorted lunatics.

The chemistry between James and Scodelario is one of the series’ greatest strengths. Eddie and Susie are neither conventional allies nor straightforward enemies. There is an underlying tension between them — part mutual respect, part distrust, part fascination; that gives the series considerably more depth than its blood-soaked surface might initially suggest.

Peak Guy Ritchie

For better or worse, you know exactly what you’re getting with Guy Ritchie.

Rapid-fire dialogue. Elaborate criminal schemes. Characters with increasingly ridiculous nicknames. Sudden bursts of outrageous violence. Immaculately dressed villains. Double-crosses upon double-crosses.

And, naturally, a soundtrack that makes even a walk across a country estate feel like the opening sequence of a Bond film.

But where The Gentlemen really succeeds is in its confidence. Ritchie understands that the material doesn’t need to take itself seriously to have something meaningful to say about class and power.

Eddie begins the series believing that his title makes him powerful. He soon discovers that inherited privilege and genuine power are two very different things.

As the season progresses, however, Eddie begins to realise that perhaps he isn’t quite as reluctant to get his hands dirty as he initially thought.

And that’s where Theo James becomes particularly compelling.

Theo James finds his Inner Gangster

James gives Eddie an understated physicality that works beautifully against the chaos surrounding him.
He isn’t the loudest man in the room. He doesn’t need to be.

There is something quietly intimidating about Eddie’s composure, particularly as the character becomes increasingly comfortable operating within the criminal world. What begins as a reluctant descent into gangsterism gradually becomes something much more seductive.

The transformation is subtle but satisfying: the Duke stops merely trying to escape the jungle and starts learning how to rule it.

Scodelario, meanwhile, is magnificent.

Susie could easily have become a familiar gangster archetype, but Scodelario gives her enough intelligence, vulnerability and steel to make her feel like one of the show’s most fully realised characters. She understands the rules of this world because she was raised inside it — and she knows precisely when to bend them.

A Bloody, Beautiful Playground

Visually, The Gentlemen is pure Ritchie.

The country estates, Savile Row tailoring, leather interiors, vintage cars and shadowy London establishments give the series an effortlessly luxurious aesthetic. It is essentially old-money Britain being invaded by new-money criminals; and Ritchie clearly enjoys every second of the collision.

There are moments when the plotting becomes deliberately absurd and some of the supporting characters feel as though they’ve wandered in from a particularly debauched Monty Python sketch. But that’s part of the charm.

The Gentlemen isn’t attempting gritty realism. It’s attempting swagger. And swagger it has in abundance.

The Verdict: Pure Toff Guy Cool

The Gentlemen is Guy Ritchie operating in his comfort zone — but with enough fresh blood to make the formula feel revitalised.

It’s violent, vulgar, ridiculously stylish and very funny, but underneath all the guns, drugs and designer tailoring is a surprisingly compelling story about inheritance, masculinity, class and the intoxicating nature of power.

By the time Eddie and Susie reach the season finale, the question is no longer whether they can survive the criminal underworld. It’s whether they actually want to leave it.

The Gentlemen is currently streaming on Netflix.

Image: Netflix

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However, we kept going and even in this year’s darkest moments we still could look forward to an incredible array of releases. And 2020 certainly had a range of terrific cinematic moments to celebrate.

Below is the list of our favourite films of the year and they’ve certainly helped us get through this difficult time, and given plenty of joy in the process.

10. Unhinged

Russell Crowe delivered an incredibly scary and full frontal attack of a performance as an unnamed man who suddenly flips and takes out all of his aggression and anger on an innocent woman in Unhinged. This was popcorn cinema at its most thrilling. Unhinged didn’t let up for a moment, and Crowe’s scary performance had us on edge the whole time. It was a simple premise that was executed with perfect delivery by its filmmaking team and as an audience member you were holding your breath right up until the very end frame. This was a pulse-pounding piece of thriller cinema at its best and Crowe’s performance as this nameless and violent thrill killer was sure to give you nightmares.

9. Downhill

Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus brought out plenty of long-simmering tensions in Downhill and this was one dark-comedy that kept its audiences on their toes the entire time. Examining the nature of loyalty, cowardice and a clash of opposites, Downhill kept you guessing from the start and made for a very intelligent piece of cinema. Director’s Nat Faxon and Jim Rash teased out the long-held resentments between Ferrell’s Pete and Louis-Dreyfus’s Billie, and all throughout the film’s proceeding events you are constantly wondering whether or not their marriage is actually going to survive their so-called ‘dream holiday’. Downhill was something completely different and proved to be a very intellectually stimulating watch for audiences,

8. Words On Bathroom Walls

While you might think you understand and know the teen genre, you really needed to think again with the likes of Words On Bathroom Walls. Showcasing incredible sincerity with its subject matter and mind-bending creativity with its production, Words On Bathroom Walls was a piece of cinema that tugged at your heartstrings. The main character Adam Petrazelli is a complicated young man, made even more so by his underlying schizophrenia that he is battling with on a daily basis. Add to this teenage angst, young love and the hardships of not quite being normal and you have a recipe for an incredibly compelling piece of cinema that pulled audiences inwards towards its narrative.

7. Onward

It’s been a strong year for Disney- Pixar and director Dan Scanlon’s fantastical fantasy tale of brotherly adventure in Onward was a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Scanlen and his team turned the fantasy genre on its head with this one and there was a great inventiveness and creativity presented through this epic, heavy-metal, fantasy road trip. Actors Christ Pratt and Tom Holland made a perfect combination as the delightful Lightfoot brothers, and Onward told a story of rediscovering the magic and what it means to ultimately find your father. The geniuses at Disney-Pixar made 2020 that little bit brighter with Onward and this was a delightful film on every single level.

6. Nomadland

Two-time Academy Award winner Frances McDormand bore her soul with an introspective performance that was utterly beautiful to watch in Nomadland. Directed by rising talent Chloé Zhao, Nomadland was a powerful film of second lives, the open road and being forced to rediscover yourself while travelling down a new path. Both its striking imagery and the magnificence of McDormand’s performance seared themselves into your very soul, and this film was truly unforgettable. Nomadland was a film filled with depth, discovery and humanity and is a piece of cinema that audiences should cherish, especially after the events of this year.

5. The Gentlemen

Guy Ritchie returned to his native England and wound up his sleeves to jump back inside the gangster genre with The Gentlemen, which made for one of 2020’s coolest cinema experiences. Led by Matthew McConaughey as the impressive and stylish drug kingpin Mickey Pearson, and featuring a stellar supporting cast including Charlie Hunnam, Henry Goulding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant, this was a film that went from A to Z in a flash and everywhere else in between and was certain to put a certain strut into the step of the audience. Ritchie radiated his own unique brand of ‘alpha male’ cool with The Gentlemen, and for audiences who were looking for a stand-up good time, well, they were sure to find it with this slick piece of gangster cinema.

4. Savage

Raw and unflinching in equal measures, Sam Kelly’s Savage hit with the force of a ball-peen hammer and took audiences inside the brutal world of New Zealand’s gang culture. Kelly didn’t hold anything back in exploring the scary reality that gripped so many and took audiences inside the traumatic world of the state boarding schools that shaped innocents into monsters and then sent them out into a world filled with nothing but seething pain and relentless rage. Savage was a shocking watch, but this was all a part of the extreme honesty that Kelly used to showcase the reality of this world and the handling of his subject matter certainly struck a nerve with audiences. Praise also needs to be lauded on the performance of Jake Ryan as Danny aka Damage, a brutal, Frankenstein’s monster of a man who knows only violence, but who is in reality is just searching for a way back home. Savage was a film that hit us hard in 2020 and it was without-a-doubt one of the year’s best.

3. Mank

Director David Fincher returned to cinema in a long-held obscene since 2014’s Gone Girl and the master filmmaker did not disappoint in presenting a marvellous project in Mank. Chronicling the production behind what many claim is the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane, Mank was a detailed exploration of one man’s creativity and ethics in a town which normally does away with such things. In terms of the narrative experience, everything came together in Mank. Production design, cinematography, location, costume design, hair and make-up and musical score all served to tell an incredible story and long-time film aficionados were sure to bask in the glow of this radiant portrait of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Mank was a deeply held passion project for Fincher and he delivered an incredible radiant piece of cinema that was well worth the watch.

2. Let Him Go

How far would you go to protect your family? That was the simple premise behind director Thomas Bezucha’s adaptation of Let Him Go, a revenge tale burning with the fury of Old Testament frontier justice and this was a thriller that stripped its audience back to the bone. Featuring career-best performances from the likes of Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, Let Him Go was a simple and to-the-point thriller which was delivered with maximum intensity and hit the audience like the force of a Winchester rifle. It’s burning Western-setting brought to life in the style of Cormac McCarthy, and Bezucha certainly knew how to get the most out of the impressive pairing of Lane and Costner. Let Him Go was that rare kind of film that harkened-back to the True Grit days of John Wayne and delivered audiences a searing drama of family loyalty and justice that was certain to take them to the edge.

1. The Way Back

But if there had to be one movie that we crown as our favourite film of 2020 it is without-a-doubt Gavin O’Conner’s portrait of sports and addiction in powerhouse drama The Way Back. Starring Ben Affleck as washed-up alcoholic, and former high school basketball star Jack Cunningham who finds a second chance gifted to him, The Way Back was a searing drama that gripped your soul and wrestled your emotions as you saw a flawed man trying for a second chance. Borrowing from Affleck’s own personal life and battle with addiction, The Way Back is an extremely heavy film that examines themes of loss and triumph, addiction and love, heartbreak and hope and O’Conner and Affleck truly gave their all to this project. This film moved me to an incredible degree and as an audience member, I could not look away from the events that were unfolding on screen. The Way Back was powerful in its presentation and it’s third act twist hit you like a stone wall and made the film that much more powerful because of it. Film’s like The Way Back don’t come along that often and when they do they need to be celebrated.

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10. Tolkien

The life and legacy of one of literature’s greatest ever storytellers, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was brought to the screen in a tale of beauty and magic in Tolkien and the partnership of director Dome Karukoski and stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins made for something very special. Shot with an enchanting eye for the lavish, Tolkien brought together gorgeous imagery with a powerful story of passion, friendship and love and explored how these themes and experiences shape our lives and make us into who we are as individuals. It was a tribute to the power of creativity and after watching this film you couldn’t help but be inspired to create something by it.

9. Aladdin

When it comes to live-action adaptations of classic Disney films, Guy Ritchie’s loud and action-packed rendition of Aladdin certainly takes poll position as being the best adaptation so far. Will Smith brought all of his considerable blockbuster star appeal to this cinematic work and absolutely shined in his performance as The Genie with plenty of light and energy. Newcomers Mena Moussad and Naomi Scott had undeniable chemistry as star-crossed lovers Aladdin and Jasmine, and their charming performance and magical vocals put the sparkle into this tale. Packed together with Ritchie’s trademark rock n’ roll flair and bursting with colour, Aladdin sprinkled plenty of magic for audiences and it was an absolute wish come true.

8. Ad Astra

Director James Gray journeyed to the very edge of our solar system and into the soul of one man in this introspective and breathtaking science fiction film that demanded to be seen on the biggest screen possible. A slow-burn tale of man’s quest for knowledge and his truest self, Ad Astra enchanted its viewers with the phenomenal cinematography of Hoyte van Hoytema, and Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt has never been better with a character that tested every part of himself as a performer. Ad Astra was a film in the grandest scheme of things and was bound together with innovative and thought-provoking ideas related to man’s search for meaning and a desire to explore the cosmos. It has been some time since I can remember seeing a science fiction film of such power, and Ad Astra certainly achieved its mission of delivering the extraordinary.

7. Ford v Ferrari

The adrenaline kicked in at over 7000 RPM here in Ford v Ferrari and all-star director James Mangold captured the passion, competitiveness and brotherhood of the track in a perfect tribute to the golden age of racing. Stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale were perfectly paired together as racing legends Carrol Shelby and Ken Miles, and their joint pursuit of glory on the track absolutely amped up audiences. The film’s racing scenes were wild and uncontrollable and literally put audiences in the driver’s seat and captured the essence of what it means to go fast.

6. Booksmart

When it came to cinematic originality this year it doesn’t get more impressive than actress turned director Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart. Packed full of original ideas and some of the best comedy delivered all year, it was a riot of a watch from beginning to end and you were sure to rock out in your seat here. Starring the genius combination of Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as over-achieving know it all’s Molly and Amy who realise that they’ve done high school all wrong and decide to go crazy for one night only, Booksmart delivered all the goods and then some, re-writing the teen comedy genre in the process. Every single frame of this incredible film was packed full of entertaining goodness and you most definitely found your groove with this one.

5. Hustlers

The hustle was on in this flashy, loud and outrageous true story of a group of women who decided to use their very unique talents to make their own version of the American Dream come true. Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu were super-fly in this one and whether they were strutting about the stage, or staging their own unique enrichment schemes you couldn’t look away. Fun, smart, clever, scandalous and incredibly sexy, Hustlers was a film that absolutely took its audience by surprise and made for one of this year’s most memorable film experiences. 

4. Avengers: Endgame

When it comes to blockbuster films that will define this last decade then it is easily Avengers: Endgame that will reign as the gold standard of what a blockbuster movie experience is. As the culminating event of just over a decade and 22 feature presentations from Marvel Studios films, Avengers: Endgame was the defining moment of one of modern cinema’s greatest ever sagas. Epic moment after epic moment was brought together in this incredible piece of cinema and when our heroes finally assembled, in one of the great moments of cinema history, we knew we had witnessed the extraordinary. They don’t get much bolder or grander than this and this was a film that tugged at all of your emotions and pulled every string of your heart. It was utterly marvellous in every sense of the word.

3. Long Shot

They say opposites attract and they certainly don’t get more different than Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen and these two phenomenal performers were an absolute hoot to watch in 2019’s standout romantic comedy Long Shot. Packed together with incredible laughs and plenty of flirtatious moments, Long Shot was a love story that had plenty to say about both attraction and what we should look for in the ones we love…along with that classic comedy that we’ve come to love from Rogen and director Jonathan Levine. Packed full of light and warmth, this one had me in a fit of uncontrollable laughter and I absolutely loved the journey that Charlotte and Fred underwent to find their own special kind of love. Long Shot was a hilarious and impactful watch from beginning to end and it was sure to leave a smile on your face.

2. Jojo Rabbit

Taika Waititi is a director of incredible spirit and warmth and his work on the sensational Jojo Rabbit proves that he is a filmmaker who rapidly deserves to take over Hollywood thanks to his incredible talents. While on the surface Jojo Rabbit presented itself as a light-hearted comedy, there was much more driving this cinematic feat and at its core was a film of amazing depth and power with a strong focus on themes of love, tolerance, acceptance and freedom. It presented a powerful and sincere message in our very turbulent era and is one of the most powerful statements to come from any working artist in Hollywood today. In my opinion, it was far and away the most important film of the year and its impactful story was sure to strike a chord with all who watched it.

1. Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood

But now, the moment that everyone has been waiting for, when it comes to the best film of 2019 there is only one answer…and that answer is of-course Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood. This tribute to the end of Hollywood’s Golden Age tracked the fortune of two fading stars in an age of rapid change and was packed full of swinging style and bound together by one incredible narrative. It was a piece of cinema that demanded to be seen on the biggest screen possible. In all, I saw this film four separate times at the cinema and it was a thrilling experience each and every time. Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is a revelatory piece of cinema and Tarantino was working at the top of his game with this one. It’s as if every part of his career was pointing him in the direction of this masterwork and the revered filmmaker, along with his dynamic duo of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt absolutely delivered with this incredible feat of filmmaking. They just don’t get much better than this.

Images: Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Studio Canal, Roadshow Films

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A British drug (McConaughey) lord tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires.

It’s been some time since virtuoso filmmaker Guy Ritchie has been in proper gangster territory, but now the good filmmaker has returned to the genre that he has helped shaped through the decades and he injects new blood, heavy drama and a whole heap of new villains back into The Gentlemen. And the result is a very fun watch. Telling the intersecting story of marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (McConaughey), an American expat who is the Julius Caesar of the marijuana business and has conquered all of Britain, with both sensational cunning and a brutal hand when needed. This very proper gangster is now trying to find a way to ride off into the sunset and it’s from here that things get very interesting.

This posh tale is in keeping with all of Ritchie’s favourite toys as a filmmaker and he gets to have a lot of fun as he once again traverses the entirety of the English establishment, from its polished aristocracy to the squalor of the slums, as he spins this original tale of gangsters, money and a whole heap of skunk. The Gentlemen is a film that screams to be seen on the big screen, in bold, crisp 35mm film, and with its colourful cast of characters and twisting narrative, you won’t see whats coming next. Ritchie’s style here is both his own, but there’s also a Hitchcockian touch here and it almost feels like this film is somewhat like Charade…but with more gangsters, pocket squares and c-bombs. You’re engaged from start to finish and Ritchie has you hook, line and sinker with a narrative that you won’t want to look away from until the very end.

Standing front and centre in The Gentlemen is Matthew McConaughey as the flat cap wearing, herringbone suited gang lord Michael ‘Mickey’ Pearson. An American expat and former Rhodes Scholar who turned his talents from academics to drug dealing and in the process formed a fearsome reputation for getting things done, along with accumulating great wealth, who now finds himself at a crossroads. But when things take a turn, and chaos erupts in this criminal jungle the lion lashes out and McConaughey goes to work. The pairing of Ritchie and McConaughey is an absolute dream come true and his resulting performance shows off his abilities. McConaughey makes for one hell of an impressive gangster and just like Al Pacino established the standard for gangster cool in the 1980s, so too does McConaughey refines it for a brand new decade in The Gentlemen.

Assisting McConaughey’s Pearson is Charlie Hunnam as Raymond, Pearson’s bespectacled number two man and all-around caretaker and consigliere. While his first appearance marks him out as a somewhat over-the-top accountant and logistics man, it soon becomes apparent that Raymond has far more violent talents that Pearson puts to good use and when you need someone to operate the bonesaw, Raymond’s the man for the job. Hunnam revels in the role, and he’s a great fit for this completely orderly individual who starts to crack at having to deal with the multiple of problems that are laid at his feet. You completely buy into his performance and he gets to show his stuff off, which results in some fearsomely violent actions, along with laugh out loud hysterics caused by some hilarious impromptu black comedy moments.

Coming up against McConaughey’s Pearson is Henry Golding who throws away his nice guy charm and instead adopts the hungry jackal feralness of upstart gangster Dry Eye who wants in on Pearson’s business and ain’t about to take no for an answer. Cast as the chief bad guy, Golding does a complete 360 here and it’s fun to watch him revel in his darker side. Dry Eye is a particularly nasty piece of work, and Golding gets to cut loose here as this thoroughly uninhibited ‘millennial firecracker’ whose got his own gangster flash style going on, and which is very reminiscent of the classic Steve McQueen look, as he looks to make his bones. Dry Eye is a worthy adversary for McConaughey in this gangster game of cat and mouse and he delivers the goods.

They say behind every great man there’s an even greater woman and for McConaughey’s Mickey Pearson that couldn’t be truer. Michelle Dockery takes on the role of his tough-as-nails and extremely classy wife Rosalind, and this Cockney Cleopatra, alongside her American Caesar, has conquered the British Isles totally and completely with both style and smarts. Dockery drops her gentrified stance that we’ve come to expect from her thanks to her work in Downton Abbey and instead adopts the all-business demeanour of Ros. She talks fast, walks fast and does not suffer fools and you invest in the shared chemistry that she and McConaughey have together as husband and wife on-screen. In a film that is filled to the brim with a whole pack of lads, Dockery is able to carve out her own space and her appearance is one of the most memorable parts of the entire film.

Popping up in The Gentlemen and completely turning heads is Colin Farrell as Coach. Like his name implies he’s a boxing/MMA coach who handles a group of trouble makers who call themselves The Toddlers, and who spend most of their time causing scraps and making fight videos that they upload to YouTube. But when his charges’ actions pull him into Pearson’s world he’s not impressed and his mean side quickly jumps out with terrifying results. Farrell’s turn in The Gentlemen is a performance that is unlike anything he’s ever done before and he’s quick on his feet and even quicker with the jab. It’s clear that he had a ball working with Ritchie and his appearance in The Gentleman is a bit of stand-out fun.

Finally, in a scene-stealing performance, Hugh Grant arrives on the scene as Fletcher, a sleazy private eye who’s always looking for an angle and who is far and away the most crooked character in all of London. This is Hugh Grant like you’ve never seen him before as he drops his usual classy persona and adopts this bottom feeder character and the result is a clear riot. Trust me when I say that you’ve never seen anything like this before in Grant’s career and Fletcher is equal parts scene-stealer and meta-character, and is the lens by whom Ritchie critiques and commentates on the current state of British society, and its changing of the guard. I can’t remember seeing a character this original since Dickin’s Fagin, and Grant’s turn as this cooky villain is sensationally fun to watch.

The Gentlemen is a terrific return to the old school for Guy Ritchie who once again proves that he’s the undoubted headmaster when it comes to the crime genre. Original, outlandish, wild and completely bonkers, this one is a crazy fun watch and you’ll walk out of it wanting to invest in a flat cap and pocket square while you brush up on your cockney rhyme.

Image: Roadshow Films

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The brand new trailer for The Gentlemen has just been released and it’s an absolute riot. Check it out below:

Here’s the full synopsis:

A British drug (McConaughey) lord tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires.

Set in contemporary London, The Gentlemen takes audiences into the world of Matthew McConaughey’s American-born expat Mickey Pearson, who has made England his home and with a combination of grit and smarts has created a vast marijuana empire. Now trying to get out of the game and enjoy a leisurely life, his business is threatened by a whole host of classic villains and things are about to get interesting from here.

The Gentlemen is classic Guy Ritchie, and there’s plenty of gnarly criminal moments, along with a good bit of zany comedy in this one, not to mention  some serious sartorial style.

In an interview with EW, Ritchie went into the motivation for making the film saying, “what I wanted to do was to bring subcultures together from both sides of the Atlantic. An American comes to England to be clever and get a job in the conventional fashion, but then takes his smarts through his connections at Oxford and realizes there’s more money to be made in the marijuana game, and capitalizes on the entrepreneurial New World spirit with the comfortable and exciting juxtaposition of British aristocracy. So what I wanted was British aristocracy, New World American drive, and all of the fun to be had with bringing those two worlds together. Marijuana’s kind of fun, but nevertheless serious and there’s money involved.”

Ritchie also said that film’s style and pacing instantly made him feel at ease at a director.

“It does feel like I’m on familiar territory here,” Ritchie said. “I loved making Aladdin, but this is obviously a very different world. We did them both in the same year. It was great to do both and sort of oscillate to the other polarity. That, I think we have done.”

With an incredible cast lead by McConaughey, which also includes Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant like you’ve never seen him before, well, this is about to get very interesting.

The Gentlemen is sure to be a fun film from beginning to end, and long-time Guy Ritchie are seriously going to dig this one when it is released on January 24, 2020.

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