Jason Statham, displaying a range we’d never see again, plays a gambler and con artist, with a penchant for chess analogies. He’s looking for payback from Ray Liotta’s ridiculously over-the-top kingpin, executing a long con so complex, not even he can explain it.
But when Ritchie drops the pseudo-intellectualising, Revolver oozes with steely style, and eagle-eyed viewers will spot Hong Kong used, somewhat inexplicably, as rear projection throughout.
9. RocknRolla (2008)
Following the critical and commercial failures of Swept Away and Revolver, Ritchie went back to the well, turning out another convoluted crime comedy in keeping with his early successes.
Tom Wilkinson plays an ageing wheeler-dealer, who loses a “lucky” painting belonging to a vicious Russian oligarch. Caught in his net are Thandie Newton’s shady accountant, Toby Kebbell’s strung-out rocker, and a trio of small-time grifters played by Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, and Tom Hardy.
The results prove Ritchie can still deliver the goods, but it’s all frustratingly familiar.
8. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Holmes (Robert Downey Jnr) and Watson (Jude Law) head for continental Europe in this serviceable sequel, on the trail of arch nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris). On this broader canvas, Ritchie fashions a number of stand-out set pieces, including a shoot-out on a high-speed train, and a woodland escape from heavy artillery.
The returning Rachel McAdams is ungraciously short-changed, replaced by Noomi Rapace, fresh from her success in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Stephen Fry is delightfully pompous as Mycroft, while Downey struggles to keep Sherlock the right side of Jack Sparrow caricature.
7. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
This bombastic, effects-heavy retelling of The Sword in the Stone was widely dismissed out of hand on its initial release. Charlie Hunnam’s swaggering “Arfa” and his gang of East End barrow boys were too anachronistic for some, recalling Robin Hood’s band of merry men more than the Knights of the Round Table.
But Ritchie also embraced the primordial and magical elements of the Arthurian legend with an enthusiasm and visual audacity not seen since John Boorman’s Excalibur, unleashing giant elephants, tentacled sirens, and a gleefully unhinged Jude Law on an unsuspecting public.6. Aladdin (2019)
Taking more than US$1 billion at the global box office, Ritchie’s live-action remake of Disney’s animated classic is far and away his most commercially successful film to date. It’s also far better than most people imagined.
Will Smith successfully pivots away from Robin Williams’ legendary genie, bringing a welcome dose of Fresh Prince jiggy to the role, while newcomers Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott are perfect as the star-crossed lovers.Add a little Bollywood flavour to the dance numbers, an effective new song in Speechless, and the results are just shy of a whole new world.
5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
At the height of “Cool Britannia”, Ritchie exploded onto the scene with his smash-hit debut, a visually striking East London crime caper populated by fast-talking gangsters and wisecracking wannabes that saw him dubbed “the British Tarantino”.
Its labyrinthine tale of gambling, ganja, and a pair of antique shotguns sparked a number of inferior imitations, as well as launching the careers of Jason Statham, and less plausibly, former footie hard man Vinnie Jones.
Some of the performances are a little wooden, but there’s no denying the energy and clarity of vision on display.
4. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Despite being adapted from one of the most iconic TV shows of the 1960s, Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. sank without a trace at the box office. But Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer bring smouldering sophistication to their uptight CIA and KGB agents, forced into working together to find a missing Nazi scientist among Rome’s glamorous jet-set.
Admittedly this Cold War spy romp is more interested in the fashion, music, and sexy sports cars of the era than achieving a lasting detente between East and West, but Ritchie knocks it out of the park.
3. The Gentlemen (2020)
Arriving in Hong Kong cinemas this week, The Gentlemen marks a thunderous return to form, as Ritchie assembles perhaps his strongest ensemble to-date.
Matthew McConaughey plays an American expat drug dealer, looking to sell his marijuana empire and retire. The news attracts all manner of hungry rivals, from Henry Golding’s hot-headed player to Hugh Grant’s slippery hack, triggering a maelstrom of bullets, bloodshed, and outrageously bad language.
Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam, and Michelle Dockery round out this very British affair, where the crumbling aristocracy, YouTube rappers, and sleazy tabloid journalism exist in hilarious disharmony.
2. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Gone are the iconic deerstalker and magnifying glass, as Robert Downey Jnr brings an altogether more bohemian aesthetic to the world’s greatest detective. Fresh off his Iron Man renaissance, Downey’s version of Holmes is a mischievous drug-addled brawler, and the perfect foil to Jude Law’s buttoned-down, shell-shocked Watson.
Despite not penning the script himself, Ritchie’s visual flair and swagger are the perfect fit for this galvanised reincarnation of Victorian London, as Mark Strong’s shady nobleman rises from the grave to blow up Parliament and install a new world order.
1. Snatch (2000)
Twenty years on, Snatch remains the quintessential Guy Ritchie movie. Following the instant success of his debut, Ritchie’s sophomore victory lap combines Hollywood talent like Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina, and most memorably, Brad Pitt as an incoherent gypsy, with blue-collar geezers Statham, Stephen Graham, and a truly menacing Alan Ford.
As with the very best British comedies, the tangled narrative of caravans, diamonds, and bare-knuckle boxers escalates into hilarious farce, as Ritchie’s rogue’s gallery of criminals, opportunists, and ne’er-do-wells look to get one over on each other, and be home in time for tea.
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