Movie Review: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Guy Ritchie’s latest is just short of the top shelf
We here at CocktailsandMovies.com are BIG fans of Guy Ritchie. All of us love Rock n Rolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Some of us love Revolver more than Snatch. And we can’t forget The Gentlemen (which has led to a pretty nice series on Netflix…). In those films, Ritchie is was able to open up his imagination to create audacious characters, uttering some of the best dialogue in any film, while creating fun character arcs around which all of his films centers themselves. This is where The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare falls just a little short of being a top-shelf rated film here at CocktailsandMovies.com
Based on the 2014 book Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII it portrays a creative version of the first special forces (read: non traditional warfare) mission of what would become the SAS.
With Hitler’s wolf packs of U-boats sinking almost everything that the U.S. can send to Britain for the war effort, Churchill crafts an off the books sabotage mission intended to disrupt the Nazis’ resupply operation on the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po, off the African coast.
While agents Marjorie Stewart, played amazingly by Eliza Gonzalez (most recently in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem) and Richard Heron, (the ever dependable Bass Olusanmokun depart by train), Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) is tasked with creating a modern day band of merry-men to destroy the Italian supply freighter anchored in the port. Utilizing the Danish fishing trawler Maid of Honor, Gus and his allies, Henry Hayes, Freddy Alvarez, and Danish naval officer Anders Larsen, all with reasons to kill and seek revenge on the Nazis, begin the slow sail to Fernando Po. Upon discovering that SOE saboteur Geoffrey Appleyard, whom had been sent ahead on the assumption that Gus would show interest in wanting him on the team, was captured, they divert course to a Nazi-controlled section of the Canary Islands for a rescue mission before they continue on to their final destination.
The conventions of a war movie necessitate big, elaborate action pieces. But, a spy/sabotage mission movie has to be a bit quieter and purposeful. This is where the movie is vintage Guy Ritchie – the stealth and one-on-one dispatching of the Nazi soldiers lends itself more to Ritchie’s creative devices with some great dialogue and killing. The film does move around a bit, dropping some twists that serve to fill in the story gaps. This is done purposely in a mystery style, post-reveal clue drop.
Whereas more Guy Ritchie films are driven by characters in very creative, audacious and impossible positions, creating flamboyant characters with cool, crisp dialogue, Ministry falls just a bit short, having to play within the bounds of “based on a true story.” The group that came out for the movie with us enjoyed the movie immensely, giving it great reviews. Those of us who are full-on Guy Ritchie fans acknowledged the shortcoming, if you want to call it that, of being hemmed in by conventions of a true story.
With that one creative burden, we give this movie a rating of:
SUPER PREMIUM
