Guy Ritchie’s 8-Part Action Series Is Quietly Becoming Netflix’s Perfect Weekend Binge

The Gentleman was not only the best film that Guy Ritchie has made in over a decade, but a true return to form that showed he hadn’t given up on his roots. Although Ritchie kicked off his career with flashy, stylized crime capers like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, he ventured into making blockbusters like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Aladdin, which lacked his signature personality. The Gentlemen created a fun world of gangsters, drug kingpins, and sensationalist media that had a significant amount of potential to expand into a franchise. While it would have been easy for Ritchie to set up a standard sequel, he instead expanded the film into a streaming show that ranks among the best projects he’s ever been involved in.

In a story that somewhat parallels the 2020 film of the same name, Netflix’s The Gentlemen stars Theo James as Eddie Horniman, a former Army Captain and member of the United Nations peacekeeping force who discovers that he is the heir to a powerful marijuana farm controlled by his late father. Eddie’s attempts to lead the family business are immediately met with resistance after his brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) gets into trouble with dangerous gangsters, even if he also finds an ally in Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario), who helps to lead a rival family. The Gentlemen is eight hours of snarky dialogue, scheming, fast-paced action, and innumerable twists, making it one of the most unique shows Netflix has ever made. Binging hasn’t necessarily made a difference for all of Netflix’s shows, but it’s a challenge to not sit down and watch all of The Gentlemen in one sitting.

‘The Gentlemen’ Is Guy Ritchie at His Finest

What’s most impressive about The Gentlemen is that Ritchie clearly put more thought into the series when it came to the characters and their relationships. Most of Ritchie’s films are light, breezy, and unconcerned with being anything more substantial than that. It’s not really a problem if he’s only trying to make two hours of unadulterated entertainment, but a continuing series requires more dramatic stakes so that the story doesn’t become completely superfluous. While the film depicted characters who are all selfish to a certain degree, Eddie is a compelling protagonist because he does not seek power for the sake of it, nor does he have the determination to honor the legacy of his family. As a soldier, Eddie felt helpless and powerless to control his circumstances. It’s only when he begins operating the family business that he finally is in command of a situation and has something to leverage in the process of making deals.

James is an actor who continues to show his range and is able to play an intensely charismatic character after being completely loathsome in his role on The White Lotus. However, The Gentlemen embraces being an ensemble series and has the freedom to spend episodes getting into the background of the supporting characters. Daniel Ings is by far the biggest scene-stealer, as a hilarious moment in the pilot only teases what further humiliation is in store for Freddy as he finds himself targeted by his family’s enemies. Although having a character who can throw cold water on any of his brother’s plans helps give the series a sense of spontaneity, the dynamic between Scodelario and James is a highlight of the series. It’s rare to see male and female leads who aren’t depicted as being love interests, and there’s a profound symmetry between the characters because they both have experienced hardships with their respective fathers.

‘The Gentlemen’ Is the Perfect Blend of Comedy and Crime

The Gentlemen depicts the criminal underworld as a larger-than-life playground filled with quirky characters, but the series isn’t fully comedic and still leans into tension. If Ritchie’s films often feel cumbersome because they feel the need to incorporate more significant action sequences, The Gentlemen works because it is grittier and tends to focus on more intimate conflicts. The non-linear narrative structure, which often relies upon flashbacks, is helpful to The Gentlemen because the show is able to deceive the audience without trying to outsmart them. Ritchie often utilizes non-sequiturs and voice-overs for a stylistic choice, but The Gentlemen uses this erratic style of exposition to condense information and say something about the twists and turns that are inherent to the gangster lifestyle. Given that gangsters have been prominent in the crime genre for the better part of the 21st century, it’s refreshing that The Gentlemen has taken a lighter touch.

There’s enough television out there for great shows to slip between the cracks, but The Gentlemen is worth binging because it has a real sense of direction. Even prior to being renewed for a second season, The Gentlemen showed signs that it was looking towards a long-term future based on the ending of its first run of episodes. There’s also the promise that guest stars such as Giancarlo Esposito and Ray Winstone, who had only brief roles in the first season, could be utilized more prominently later on. Ritchie may have been working for over three decades to channel all of his interests into richly entertaining works of dark comedy, but The Gentlemen has both the freedom and the platform to fulfill these ambitions.