The Gentlemen (2019) Plot Summary
Directed by Guy Ritchie in 2019, “The Gentlemen” is a crime-action film starring Matthew McConaughey as Michael Pearson. Pearson, after years of hard work and violence, has built his own criminal empire. However, when he decides to sell his weed business to Jeremy Strong’s character, Matthew, things go awry. Matthew teams up with Henry Golding’s character, Dry Eye, to betray Pearson and dismantle his empire.
Meanwhile, private investigator Fletcher threatens Raymond Smith about his boss’s illegal activities. Fletcher offers to destroy all the incriminating evidence against Pearson in exchange for 20 million British pounds.
Why does Michael Pearson want to sell his weed business?
While describing Michael “Mickey” Pearson, Fletcher tells Raymond that Mickey was born clever but poor. His life took a turn for the better when he won a ticket to a brighter future. Despite attending Oxford, Michael never completed his education or returned home.
Instead, he started selling weed to his friends, which turned out to be a successful venture. However, after years of hard work and violence, Mickey successfully built his own empire, but as Mickey reached his fifties, he started to soften and wanted to retire from the business.
Mickey found a customer in the form of Matthew. They had done many small deals before, but now Mickey was ready for the big one. He asked for 400 million British pounds for the entire weed business, including all of the technology.
Later on, Mickey revealed his real reason for selling his business to Matthew. Mickey said his hands aren’t clean, and businesses like weed need a new face with a clean past, which he believed he doesn’t possess.
Why does Fletcher say “The Sun isn’t going up for me, it’s going down?”
Fletcher shares all the information he has gathered about Michael with Raymond. This information could cause his boss a lot of trouble and damage his reputation. However, Fletcher promises to provide everything he has for just 20 million British pounds.
Later, he mentions that the sun wasn’t going up for him, but rather, it was going down. This phrase garnered a lot of attention from fans, who later tried to decipher its meaning. Fletcher is a character solely focused on getting rich by any means possible.
He doesn’t care about anything or anyone other than himself. Therefore, the phrase indicates that Fletcher is willing to betray his own client should the need arise in order to become rich.
What happens to Michael’s farms?
After Michael rejects Dry Eye’s offer to buy his entire business, some people break into one of Michael’s weed farms and record a video. They start a fight similar to MMA with the employees working on the farm and post the video on YouTube.
Later, they bring all the weed to the gym. As soon as the Coach (Colin Farrell) finds out about what the boys have done, he goes to the gym and asks them to take down the video.
Whose body is in the freezer?
While taking Laura Pressfield back home, Raymond and his boys encounter drug addicts who try to stop them. One of them, Power Noel (Tom Rhys Harries), attacks Dave with a hammer. Meanwhile, during the scuffle, Aslan (Danny Griffin) falls from a window to his death.
This could spell trouble for Mickey if anyone discovers Aslan’s body. Therefore, Raymond and his boys bring Aslan’s body to their place and freeze it so they can later get rid of it. Aslan is revealed to be the son of a Russian oligarch who dispatches assassins to kill Raymond and Mickey, but thanks to the Coach, the disaster is averted.
What happens to Dry Eye?
While talking on the phone with his wife, Mickey learns that Dry Eye is in Rosalind’s office. Dry Eye’s intention is to take Rosalind Pearson (Michelle Dockery) with him until the issue with Mickey is resolved. After Rosalind refuses his request, Dry Eye threatens her by involving Tony.
When Tony tries to capture her, Rosalind uses a paperweight handgun to kill him. However, she squanders her final bullet by firing it to kill another one of Dry Eye’s men. Dry Eye realizes that the clip is empty and attacks Rosalind, but Mickey arrives at the office in the nick of time and shoots Dry Eye dead.
What happens to Big Dave in the end?
Two months ago, at a party, Mickey embarrassed Big Dave. Big Dave kept insisting he was the editor of Daily Print, but Mickey ignored him, leaving him feeling humiliated. Since that day, Big Dave has been seeking revenge against Mickey. He planned to use Laura Pressfield (Eliot Sumner), the beloved child of Lord Pressfield, to bring Mickey down.
However, one day while on his way to work, Big Dave is kidnapped by the same people who raided Mickey’s farm before. Later, they give him drugs, which makes him do something inappropriate with a pig. Coach advises Big Dave to stop investigating Mickey if he doesn’t want a compromising video of him to be released to the public.
What about Matthew?
After showing him his weed business, Matthew compliments Mickey on the grand tour. However, he’s not willing to pay the price Mickey originally offered. Due to the incident at one of Mickey’s farms, the market value of his business has dropped from 400 to 130 million British pounds.
Despite this, Matthew wants to buy the entire weed business for only 100 million British pounds. Later, Mickey reveals to Matthew their conversation with Dry Eyes, where they are discussing plans to destroy Mickey’s business and buy it at a lower price. Mickey then gives Matthew the option to either pay him 270 million British pounds or to draw his last breath in a freezer.