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Guy Ritchie is a very specific kind of filmmaker who really can only appeal to those on his wavelength. His hyper-stylized, hyper-masculine crime pictures can be off-putting and distancing, but his recent shift to blockbuster filmmaking ("Sherlock Holmes" and the live action "Aladdin") have made Ritchie a more populist director. His latest, "Wrath of Man," harkens back to the grungy crime dramas that Ritchie made his name on.

"Wrath" reunites Ritchie with Jason Statham (the previous star of Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "Snatch," and "Revolver"), who can play action movie roles in his sleep. His entire commitment to the movie is to show up, deliver lines with a furrowed brow, and pulverize anyone who gets in his way. As the mysterious character simply named H, Statham succeeds in doing the bare minimum for a Statham-led movie about the good guys versus the bad ones.

H has recently gotten a job as a security guard for a cash truck, which are always prime targets for a movie robbery ("The Town," a much better and more thrilling movie, came to mind periodically). He shows up on the job, is treated as "the new guy" by everyone, including Bullet (Holt McCallany) and Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett) who get to take H on his first job. H doesn't say much and isn't interested in getting to know his co-workers, but he certainly stuns them when their truck is infiltrated by a group of robbers and H starts killing them one-by-one with precision. While everyone is fearing for their lives, H eradicates the would-be robbers without blinking.

"Wrath of Man" doesn't keep Statham front-and-center throughout the whole movie, instead switching the film's perspective to the band of robbers played by Jeffrey Donovan, Scott Eastwood, Laz Alonso, and Raúl Castillo, It shouldn't be a surprise to say their path eventually crosses H's, and his motives and more about his character become a bit clearer.

Ritchie co-wrote "Wrath of Man" with Marn Davies and Ivan Atkinson, and some of the movie's plot threads feel underexplained and get in the overall film's way. Ritchie has always been a fan of twists and turns but as a writer he sometimes gets a bit ahead of himself, focusing too heavily on stylistic flourishes and not so much on shaping the story. Everything that feels like a demerit in his previous films is toned down here, making "Wrath of Man" more enjoyable than other Ritchie movies.

At the end of the day, "Wrath of Man" still feels like a by-the-number movie where plot elements can be discerned from the outset. Some of the action scenes are thrilling and straight-forward, but it's also disheartening to see Statham continue to do these kind of movies. He isn't exactly a world class actor, but remember the comedic chops on display in the 2015 Melissa McCarthy-led film "Spy"? Where's that version of Statham? Hopefully we'll get to see him again soon.