The Specialists: a minor Guy Ritchie (review)
Available directly on Prime Video, this financial action thriller confirms the British director’s very irregular form: effective and stylish entertainment, but far from the filmmaker’s best films.
We’ve known it for a long time: the Guy Ritchie brand sometimes reserves excellent surprises and big disappointments. For example, An angry man (in 2021), was great. The series Young Sherlock (at the start of the year) an undeniable celebration. On the other hand, Fountain of Youth (last year on Apple) had all the makings of a pretty disaster.
Like its original title (In The Gray), his latest opus, The Specialists – released this week in France on Prime Video – is located in the gray area of the filmmaker’s films. Those who are neither for nor against, quite the contrary… A pleasant, passable piece of entertainment which sends wood between two easy replies tinged with a slightly dull, deadpan humor. We are at the level of Ministry of Dirty War (in 2024): a fun streaming film, nothing more.
It is therefore on the Amazon platform that these Specialistsafter chaotic exploitation across the Atlantic where post-production problems ended up tiring the studio Lionsgate, which finally resold the rights to another distributor, Black Bear Pictures. Result: a big flop, with barely 20 million dollars in revenue for a budget of 70 million. Enough to undermine the ambitions of international distribution. And the film was finally able to be purchased at a lower cost by Prime Video for the rest of the world.
Despite its super cool cast, carried by Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal, surrounded by Eiza González and Rosamund Pike, no cinemas: head to streaming.
For us, The Specialiststhey are Gérard Lanvin and Bernard Giraudeau (in 1985). But here, these are two “fixers” – basically mercenaries – two gunslingers capable of tracking down the worst scoundrels on the planet, and who will be hired by a lawyer and a banker to make a crime lord refuse to return a billion dollars to a New York firm.
We understand after 10 minutes: we are facing a little Guy Ritchie. His fifth feature film in three years (!) takes on the air of a confused financial thriller. We are told of an opaque business, of asset managers, influence peddling and other corrupt enterprises, with teams of killers responsible for doing the dirty work when it comes to keeping / recovering the money. All of this is so clear that it requires a voiceover (provided by Eiza González) to explain what is happening on screen. A manual style direction – not really new for Ritchie – which at least has the merit of establishing rhythm in this 90-minute action film, absolutely neat, but totally lacking in new ideas.
Between two financial shenanigans and a few fighting scenes that break the house, we find the cool and stylized touch of the director. But Guy Ritchie tries to set up a game of cat and mouse that never really works. Fortunately, Cavill and Gyllenhaal are there to bring that touch of charismatic glamor that helps justify the show.
Apart from that, these Specialists will join the director’s shelf of not really essential films… who will be able to catch up in a few weeks since his sixth film (in three years!) will be released this fall. Wife & Dog – about which we still know almost nothing, except that it will be led by Benedict Cumberbatch – will this time be released in theaters in France.
