Guy Ritchieis not only one of the most singular, stylized filmmakers working today, but one of the most prolific. After helming a few major blockbusters that didn’t allow him to utilize his unique qualities as a storyteller, Ritchie used the 2020s to return to his roots of making sharp and snarky crime films. The best of Ritchie’s recent cinematic efforts was the 2020 drug-smuggling dark comedy The Gentlemen, and the film serves as the basis for a highly entertaining Netflix series that both expands and enhances the source material. In addition to creating an original mythology that is compelling enough in its own right, The Gentlemen suggests that Richie might be best-suited for the small screen.
‘The Gentlemen’ Is a Clever Expansion From the Film
Although they are technically set in the same universe, The Gentlemen doesn’t require any knowledge of the film to be entertaining, as the connections are little more than a few Easter eggs. The show focuses on the United Nations peacekeeping officer Eddie Horniman (Theo James), who is called to return to his aristocratic family home after learning that his father has died and passed along his title. Eddie thought that the title of Duke of Halstead and the family estate would pass to his older brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings), but he is surprised to find that he was the one that his father named. Eddie is forced to take over his father’s business, which includes a massive cannabis operation with ties to other criminal syndicates. Eddie has the wits and charisma to head the powerful empire, but he’s also dragged into danger as a result of the enemies his father made and the chaos that Freddy causes.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
While all of Ritchie’s films can be counted on to have memorable dialogue and stylized action, The Gentlemen works as an effective family drama because it takes the time to offer more details on all of the different characters. Eddie is a compelling protagonist because he has spent a majority of his life serving in a peacekeeping operation that he has grown increasingly cynical about, mostly because he doesn’t see how his efforts make a difference. While being involved with a criminal business requires a different set of qualifications, the generational power that these family dynasties have ensured that there is a code of chivalry that exists, even among the rivals. While the title of “The Gentlemen” was used somewhat ironically for the film, the series does satirize the perception of British high society by showing the mannered, formal interactions between those who deal in illegal enterprises. That doesn’t mean that the show lacks action, as it’s one of the few Netflix shows that justifies its episode count because of the consistent momentum.
James’ performance is among the best that he’s given, but The Gentlemen offers compelling insights about family by exploring the difference between the Horniman dynasty and the Glass family. Ray Winstonegives a suitably hammy, scenery-chewing performance as the incarcerated patriarch Bobby Glass, but Eddie is primarily asked to communicate with his daughter, Susie (Kaya Scodelario), who has been leading the operation while her father is in prison. It’s interesting to contrast two characters who both wield responsibilities that they weren’t expecting, and face skepticism on whether they want to follow down the same line that their fathers did.
‘The Gentlemen’ Is Guy Ritchie at His Best
Ritchie has a very singular style that involves voiceovers, flashbacks, quick-cuts, freeze-frames, and quirky needle drops, and it can sometimes be overwhelming when he disregards the plot entirely. However, it turns out that Ritchie has more freedom to take chances when working under the parameters of a Netflix show where individual episodes can be more experimental, even if the season itself still builds towards a cohesive conclusion. Ritchie is not the only director on the show, as the involvement of other talented filmmakers like David Caffrey and Eran Creevy ensures that it doesn’t become too stylistically derivative. At the same time, Ritchie can take chances that wouldn’t have been possible on the big screen; the Season 1 episode “Tackle Tommy Woo Woo” is a darkly amusing look at the chaos involved in the aftermath of an impromptu murder.
Although the first season was an excellent proof of concept, The Gentlemen has its sights set on an ambitious future, as Netflix has already renewed the show ahead of its second season airing. It’s a sign of confidence that suggests that the show has found its groove and there is a clear direction to the story, which is something Ritchie needs so his narratives don’t become superfluous. The Gentlemen film is an entertaining showcase for several great performances, and it was nice to see Ritchie returning to his roots. However, the series feels like a maturation for Ritchie that sees him working in the tradition of a classic television crime epic, and it’s exciting to consider just how much the show will expand in the years to come.
