3 of the grittiest Netflix movies you can watch this week (September 21-27)

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Sep 21, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account It's a good time to be Guy Ritchie on Netflix. The Brit grit master has got a hit series, The Gentlemen, in its second season that's in the streamer's Top 10. Plus, the movie that series is based on is here, as is the recently added The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, both of which we have the details on below as part of this week's roundup that is decidedly savage. That said, the grit doesn't stop at Ritchie—on this week's roundup of movies for Netflix U.S. subscribers, we've also got a sequel to one of the greatest Scottish dark comedies ever, starring Ewan McGregor, and it's my top pick. 3 The Gentlemen Marijuana, gang stuff, and sharp, Ritchie dialogue Before it gave birth to a hit Netflix series of the same name (season 2 landed September 3), The Gentlemen was Guy Ritchie's big-screen return to the deliciously gritty and stylish British crime capers that he made his name with—think Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. And thank goodness. And as per that form, The Gentlemen is stocked with a cast any director would kill to have: Matthew McConaughey, for starters, stars as cannabis kingpin Mickey Pearson, an American swimming among the British aristocrats and running his empire from beneath their fancy estates. Well, Mickey's getting older and wants out, but when he tries to sell to billionaire Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong), wannabe gangster Dry Eye (Henry Golding) and his associate Coach (Colin Farrell) aren't making it easy. The stars don't stop there, with more supporting players, including Hugh Grant as a sleazy private dick threatening to sell the whole story to the highest bidder, and Charlie Hunnam as Mickey's right-hand man. The Gentlemen Release Date January 1, 2020 Cast Charlie Hunnam, Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Lyne Renee, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding, Tom Wu, Chidi Ajufo, Hugh Grant, Simon Barker, Eddie Marsan, Jason Wong, John Dagleish, Jordan Long, Lily Frazer, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Samuel West, Geraldine Somerville, Eliot Sumner, Franz Drameh, Christopher Evangelou, James Warren, Sean Sagar, Bugzy Malone Runtime 113 minutes Director Guy Ritchie Writers Lauren Bond, Guy Ritchie Producers Bill Block, Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Matthew McConaughey Main Genre Crime Budget $22 million Executive Producer(s) Adam Fogelson, Alan J. Wands, Andrew Golov, Bob Osher, Matthew Anderson, Robert Simonds 2 The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Guy Ritchie and Henry Cavill's handlebar mustache take on some Nazis Oh man, even Guy Ritchie has out-Ritchie'd himself with this one. This time, however, he's taken famed writer and historian Damien Lewis's 2014 book, Churchill's Secret Warriors​​​​​​, which is based on a true story, and filled it with scuzzy cool, war-hero bravado, and loads of Henry Cavill sticking his tongue out from behind one hell of a handlebar mustache. Loosely based on Lewis' book, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is about a rogue black-ops group led by Gus March-Phillipps (Cavill), secretly deployed to a remote island off the coast of Africa to disable an Italian ship that's been resupplying Nazi U-boats during World War II. But it ain't going to be easy—first they need to rescue Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) from the Gestapo, before the rest of them, including huge Danish commando Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson) and Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), get to work. Already on the island, Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) has been working undercover, but still, everything goes off the rails in the best Guy Ritchie ways possible. Cast Henry Cavill, Eiza Gonzalez, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Cary Elwes, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, Henry Zaga, Til Schweiger, Freddie Fox, Rory Kinnear, Danny Sapani, James Wilby, Matthew Hawksley, Simon Paisley Day, Mark Oosterveen, Victor Oshin, Alessandro Babalola, Tim Seyfi, George Asprey, Paul Antony-Barber, Bikiya Graham Douglas, Nikolas Salmon, Mert Kılıç Runtime 120 minutes Director Guy Ritchie Writers Guy Ritchie, Eric Johnson Producers Chad Oman, Jerry Bruckheimer, John Friedberg, Ivan Atkinson Main Genre Action Studio(s) Black Bear, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Toff Guy Films Distributor(s) Lionsgate Executive Producer(s) Eric Johnson, Christopher Woodrow, Scott LaStaiti, Teddy Schwarzman, Jason Cloth, Mohammed Al Turki, K. Blaine Johnston, Michael Heimler, Olga Filipuk 1 T2 Trainspotting Choose life, choose a sequel For many of us, 1996's drug-fueled dark comedy Trainspotting was the first time we'd ever really noticed Ewan McGregor. His strung-out heroin addict character Renton was the epitome of desperation–always scamming to get his next fix. It took nearly a decade for McGregor to bury the hatchet with director Danny Boyle (who cast Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach, instead of Ewan), but T2 Trainspotting (a.k.a. Trainspotting 2) finally got made in 2017. Loosely based on Irvine Welsh's novel Porno, we pick up two decades after Renton made off with the drug money he stole from his friends—Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller)—and the psychotic Begbie (Robert Carlyle), before disappearing to start a new life. Now, after a near-fatal heart attack, Renton returns to Edinburgh to make amends and help a still-addicted Spud and struggling pub owner Sick Boy. But Begbie breaks out of prison and wants his pound of flesh. It didn't do as well as Trainspotting, but Trainspotting 2 has a solid 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Trainspotting 2 Release Date March 31, 2017 Cast Karl Argue, Shirley Henderson, Ewan McGregor, Simon Weir, Jonny Lee Miller, Irvine Welsh, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Ewen Bremner Runtime 117minutes Director Danny Boyle Writers John Hodge Prequel(s) Trainspotting Budget $18 million Studio(s) Sony Distributor(s) Sony Get down and gritty this week Seedy underworlds are some of my favorite underworlds, especially if they come laden with British or Scottish accents (or any accent, really). If you want a bit more, you could also add the classic Al Pacino masterpiece Scarface to your watchlist, too. After that, you can head to our streams section for more recommendations for U.S. subscribers. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.