Guy Stuart Ritchie (born September 10, 1968 in Hatfield, England) is a British film director and screenwriter.
His first film, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels was a low-budget, humorous crime caper about the London underworld. It was an indie success and critical darling for its fresh, vibrant style.
He followed up with Snatch., which was an even bigger success, though some critics complained that he was rehashing his previous film too much. Next, he made Swept Away, a remake of a controversial 1970s Italian film, starring his then-wife Madonna.
Swept Away was savaged by critics, and bombed at the box office. When he returned to familiar territory with the crime caper Revolver (2005), he tried to mix things up with an Evil Plan and an Anvilicious Aesop. The film was so poorly received that it didn't even see wide release in America.
Ritchie then made RocknRolla in an obvious attempt to recapture the violent and irreverent underworld hijinks of his first two films. It was received better than Revolver, but wasn't really a success. He seemed to be approaching the nadir, but his adaptation of Sherlock Holmes appears to have revived his fortunes; it received mostly positive reviews, and was successful at the box office, grossing more than all of his previous films combined. The sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was equally successful. He also produced the TV series SWAG.
In 2019, after two consecutive box-office bombs, he rebounded with, of all things, the live-action remake of Aladdin, which has become the biggest hit of his career. In 2020, he returned to crime comedy with The Gentlemen, and has since reunited with his former leading man Jason Statham on two further films.
He was married to Madonna from 2000 to 2008. He then married actress Jacqui Ainsley in 2015.
Filmography:
- Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
- Snatch. (2000)
- Mean Machine, the British remake of The Longest Yard (2001) (producer only)
- Swept Away (2002)
- Revolver (2005)
- RocknRolla (2008)
- Sherlock Holmes (2009)
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
- The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
- Aladdin (2019)
- The Gentlemen (2019note )
- Wrath of Man (2021)
- Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)
- The Covenant (2023)
- The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
Tropes associated with Guy Ritchie
- Author Appeal: He's a lifelong martial artist with black belts in Shotokan Karate, Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and his films often have impressive fight scenes with realistic moves taken from said arts.
- Career Resurrection: Twice.
- It's generally agreed that the Sherlock Holmes movies brought him back to prominence as a director the first time around.
- The second time around, it was the two-time combination of Aladdin (2019), which became his highest-grossing release, and The Gentlemen, which won back fans and critics who praised his return to his crime comedy roots.
- Cluster F-Bomb: His films are known for being very profane and having lots of bad language.
- Creator Killer: The back-to-back failures of Swept Away and Revolver (2005) came very close to tanking his career, though fortunately he was able to recover thanks to RockNRolla and the Sherlock Holmes films.
- Deadpan Snarker: This is the usual style of humor in his films, particularly when he's working with Jason Statham. If characters aren't pummelling each other with their fists, they'll be battling with barbed comments. Or possibly a combination of the two.
- Direct to Video: Wrath of Man and all of his subsequent films have had a limited theatrical release in the USA and went straight to streaming in the rest of the world.
- London Gangster: Many examples have featured in his films.
- MacGuffin: His films tend to feature good examples — standard formula is several factions of gangsters colliding as they try to get their hands on... something. Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels has two antique guns and a stash of weed; Snatch. has a giant diamond; and Rock N Rolla had a painting.
- Once More, with Clarity: Expect plenty of these, with fast-paced crosscuts and/or slow motion.
- Overcrank: The man really loves his slow motion. The only director more famous than him for using it is perhaps Zack Snyder.
- Playing Against Type:
- His first two Sherlock Holmes films, which delved into the Mystery Fiction and Steampunk genres. Although, they are also shot in his signature style.
- Another pair of Downplayed examples with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. While delving into the Spy Fiction and Sword and Sorcery genres, respectively, they are both shot in his signature style much like his Sherlock Holmes films.
- Played straight with Aladdin (2019), a PG-rated Disney romantic musical fantasy that just also happens to be a live-action remake of the 1992 animated film of the same name. Interestingly enough, it proved to be his biggest commercial success.
- Also played straight with romantic comedy Swept Away, though unlike Aladdin, it became his biggest failure both critically and commercially.
- Again played straight with The Covenant (2023), which, unlike other of his films, is a war thriller which features almost none of his usual actors and style.
- Production Posse: Ritchie has made several repeat collaborations over the course of his filmography:
- On the acting front, Jason Statham is Ritchie's main leading man, having appeared in 5 of his films (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune).
- Others include:
- Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch)
- Alan Ford (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch)
- Tom Wu (Revolver, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and The Gentlemen)
- Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune)
- Mark Strong (Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes)
- Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword)
- Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
- Hugh Grant (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Gentlemen and Operation Fortune)
- Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare)
- Charlie Hunnam (King Arthur and The Gentlemen)
- Henry Golding (The Gentlemen and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare)
- Josh Hartnett (Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune)
- Bugzy Malone (The Gentlemen and Operation Fortune)
- Cary Elwes (Operation Fortune and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare)
- Matthew Vaughn produced Ritchie's first three films, while producer Lionel Wigram worked on the two Sherlock Holmes films, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (as well as co-writing the latter two films and the story of the first Holmes film), and Ivan Atkinson (who was Ritchie's assistant on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Man From UNCLE) has served as Ritchie's primary producer and co-writer starting with The Gentlemen.
- Cinematography wise:
- Tim Maurice-Jones (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Revolver)
- Philippe Rousselot (the Sherlock Holmes films)
- John Mathieson (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and King Arthur)
- Alan Stewart (Aladdin, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune)
- In terms of editing, James Herbert (Revolver, RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur, Aladdin, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune)
- In regards to music:
- John Murphy (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch)
- Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
- Daniel Pemberton (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword)
- Christopher Benstead (The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune)
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Characters in Ritchie's films tend to be very swear happy. By all accounts, he's got quite the sailor's mouth himself as well.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: It wouldn't be a Guy Ritchie movie without characters sassing the crap out of each other, usually with more than a few four letter words. Extra points if heavy English accents are involved.
- Weak Boss, Strong Underlings: Ritchie seems particularly fond of this trope.
- In Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Harry has Big Chris and Barry the Baptist at his disposal (but Harry's not above getting physical himself, even if the only weapon available is a 15-inch black rubber sex toy)
- Snatch. features this quite a lot; Bricktop has his thugs (most prominently John and Errol), Turkish and Tommy used Gorgeous George for that purpose, Doug The Head hires Bullet-Tooth Tony both for this and for his abilities to find someone, and Avi has Rosebud.
