In the Grey (2026)

Guy Ritchie movies bore me silly. It's a lot of bravado and bluster wrapped up in a glossy package of pretty actors posing like models. They mainly seem to exist as an excuse to employ Henry Cavill. This one is a formulaic heist thriller that amounts to roughly an hour and a half of setup for 15 minutes of payoff. 

½ a Faraday cage out of 5

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

Adding explosions and panache to the real life story of Operation Postmaster, a group of special forces soldiers are secretly recruited by the British government to carry out a black ops sabotage mission to hijack and infiltrate a Nazi stronghold in 1940s German-occupied Europe. Guy Ritchie is usually more hit than miss, but this was a misfire on all counts, from its lackluster action sequences to its dull, hollow execution. If you like shallow action flicks that go boom, this one is for you. The heavily fictionalized events portrayed here were also apparently the inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond character. 

1½ U-boats out of 5

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS [2011]

Guy Ritchie reunites Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows for more eccentric fun.

Jared Harris and Stephen Fry make delightful additions to the cast while Noomi Rapace is sadly underused.  It's not as clever as the first and resorts to silly unnecessary CSI-esque slo-mo a bit too often but still keeps up the frantic and entertaining pace.  It might be a slight misfire, however if they maintain this quality I'd still be up for a third helping.

3 little horsey rides out of 5

SHERLOCK HOLMES [2009]

Director Guy Ritchie set out to give Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes character the Batman Begins makeover with Robert Downey Jr. channeling Jack Sparrow as the title character.

What could have been a silly mess turns out to be thoroughly entertaining.  Right off the bat it's made apparent this isn't the Jeremy Bratt pip-pip Holmes, by inserting choreographed fights scenes and slo-mo CGI.  Unfortunately, Mark Strong and Rachel McAdams are painfully boring compared to the bromantic chemistry between Downey and Jude Law's Dr. Watson. 

Bad points aside, it can't be ignored that this is just good fun.

3½ ravens of death out of 5

Snatch (2000)

Snatch is a film about sub-cultures, a big ass diamond and crime. It’s Ritchie’s best. The editing is tight, the dialogue is punchy, the balance of comedy and drama is perfect and Brad Pitt gives the best damn Pikey performance I've ever seen. If you've ever had dealings with the tricksy bastards you’ll appreciate how well he did.
It’s similar in style to Ritchie’s previous film but much more polished. He clearly had more cash to play around with.  innie Jones isn't a natural actor, but here he convinces otherwise.

4 dags and a caravan for me ma out of 5

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Guy Ritchie's first feature is a typical heist film set in the British crime underworld. Crime is a mug's game, and there are mugs aplenty in Lock, Stock.
His ace in the hole was never allowing it to take itself too seriously. The thieves aren't the sharpest tools in the box, and when they try to be clever everything turns into a veritable shit-storm.
You may need to brush up on your cockney lingo because the dialogue is as sharp as the Aylesbury Duck. It’s all a bit Brian Clough around the edges but is chock full of style. Good stuff.

3½ dirty fingers in dirty pies out of 5

RocknRolla (2008)

Guy Ritchie crime thriller set in London. The criminal underworld, the property market and the music business clash, while a couple of likely lads find themselves a part of the pot stirring. It’s cruelly funny in places, which was a nice surprise. Mr Shouty Butler was really good, the only time I've ever enjoyed watching him do anything other than die. Ritchie's films are always beautifully edited, but he needs to learn to hire more ruthless people, much of this could have been chopped and it would've made for a tighter film.

2½ back of the hand out of 5

Revolver (2005)

The Stath enters a game that's impossible to win in the traditional sense.
I watched Revolver at release and was expecting another Mockney Gangsta flick. What I got didn't fit the formula. I thought it sucked.
Now, being older and (slightly) wiser I can appreciate the film isn't the turd I initially thought. I didn't understand it before. Now I do. It’s both blatantly obvious and equally cryptic, to the detriment of the film form. If the numbers 3, 10 and 32 mean anything to you, you'll "get" the film.

NOTE: The R1 release is the "simplified" version. The R2 is the original version.

3 hey, it's that guy from Sopranos out of 5