In 2019, director Guy Ritchie filmed by far his biggest commercial flick, as his live-action remake of Aladdin earned more than $1 billion worldwide. That take nearly doubled the gross of his second most successful movie, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Aladdin also became the biggest departure from the director’s signature style, as Ritchie came to prominence for gritty crime dramas like 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and 2000’s Snatch. With 2020’s The Gentlemen, Ritchie wipes the Disney off his plate and returns to his roots.

American ex-pat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) built a fortune via a marijuana business in London. He decides to get out of this trade and sell his empire.

This doesn’t go smoothly. Rather than simply and off his domain, Mickey encounters all sorts of schemes and brawls due to those who desire to take his throne.

Going into this review, I genuinely forgot that Ritchie had attempted much “commercial fare” prior to Aladdin. I still so strongly think of him as the guy who did Snatch that I didn’t remember the two Sherlock Holmes movies, 2015’s Man from UNCLE or 2017’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

I think these escaped my memory because they still felt like Ritchie projects in ways Aladdin didn’t. The Holmes movies and the others remained of a piece with the Ritchie oeuvre, whereas the bright, peppy Aladdin seemed like it came from someone else.

Despite its obvious influences from Scorsese and Tarantino, Gentlemen feels like pure Ritchie, for better or for worse. I admit I never wholly warmed up to his style – partly because he can feel derivative - but at least this becomes a pretty engaging effort.

Of course, a great cast helps. In addition to McConaughey, we find Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell and Henry Golding, among others. They seem to enjoy their ability to get down and dirty with the material, and they uniformly offer loose, lively performances.

Despite what my synopsis implies, Gentlemen comes with a decidedly non-linear narrative. Most of the movie proceeds in flashback as told by private investigator Fletcher (Grant) to Mickey’s lieutenant Ray (Hunnam).

If used poorly, this could turn into a contrived device, and it threatens to go down that path, partly because Ritchie veers toward potentially cutesy elements at times. Nonetheless, the framework functions well more than it falters, partly because Grant offers such a gleeful take on his semi-depraved character.

As mentioned, no one will find anything revolutionary via The Gentlemen, as it digs into the standard Guy Ritchie MO. Nonetheless, it keeps us entertained more than well enough to work.

Footnote: we get to see a music video from some of the characters midway through the end credits.

The Gentlemen appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K production, the image seemed appealing.

For the most part, sharpness satisfied. A couple of interiors suffered from a minor decline in delineation, but the majority of the film seemed accurate and concise.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes or source flaws. Although the movie opted for fake print defects during the opening credits, those were intentional and not a concern.

Colors went down the stylized path, with a trend toward teal and amber, with occasional splashes of purple as well. These seemed perfectly satisfactory given the visual choices, though the fairly limited palette meant the disc’s HDR didn’t add a lot of impact.

Blacks appeared rich and taut, while low-light shots displayed nice clarity and smoothness. HDR brought out good contrast and whites. Overall, I remained pleased with the image.

Similar thoughts greeted the involving Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Gentlemen. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, violent scenes brought the most active information, as those used gunfire and other elements of mayhem to create a vivid sense of the material.

Music also created a good presence, as the score filled the speakers to the film’s advantage. All of these factors formed a lively soundscape.

Audio quality worked well, too. Music was dynamic and full, while effects appeared accurate and dynamic.

Speech seemed distinctive and concise, without edginess or other issues. The soundtrack added to the movie’s effectiveness.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Audio remained identical, as both sported the same Atmos track.

As for visuals, the 4K UHD felt a bit tighter and smoother, with superior blacks, colors and contrast. That said, it didn’t become quite the step up I hoped to find given its status as a native 4K production. Still, the 4K UHD worked better and became the superior version.

Only a handful of extras appear here, and we get three featurettes. Best Gentlemanly Quips runs three minutes, nine seconds and offers a montage that features some of the movie’s more florid dialogue. Since I already watched the film, it doesn’t add much.

Glossary of Cannabis fills 46 seconds and offers another compilation of movie clips. These just show synonyms for “marijuana”, and this becomes another fairly useless segment.

With Behind the Scenes of The Gentlemen, we get a one-minute, 37-second piece that features actors Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Matthew McConaughey, Jeremy Strong, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell and Michelle Dockery. They offer a glossy intro to the movie with virtually no informational value.

A Photo Gallery provides 31 stills. These mix behind the scenes images and shots from the movie. It becomes a mediocre compilation.

On an included Blu-ray copy, the disc opens with ads for The Current War, 1917 and The Assistant. No trailer for Gentlemen appears here.

After a trip to Disneyland, Guy Ritchie returns to his violent roots via 2020’s The Gentlemen. Though not a wholly satisfying tale, the movie comes with enough intrigue and dark humor to work. The 4K UHD brings very good picture and audio but it skimps on bonus materials. While not classic Ritchie, Gentlemen largely entertains.

To rate this film visit the original review of THE GENTLEMEN