The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
(MA15+, 120 minutes, Prime Video)
3 stars
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare occupies the space in the Venn Diagram where Guy Ritchie fans, World War II buffs and people looking for eye-candy cross over.
The film is not going to be the standout entry in any of those three categories, but it's an entertaining and enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours if that crossover happens to be your jam.
The film tells the true - but Ritchie-fied - story from Winston Churchill's declassified files of a group tasked with taking German U-boats out of action off the coast of Africa in 1942.
Their mission is not officially sanctioned, and if they fail to succeed, the Brits will disavow any knowledge of them.
Known as Operation Postmaster - which brings to mind the even more ludicrous Operation Mincemeat, which inspired a highly interesting film of the same name starring Colin Firth - the mission brings together some of the more roguish characters associated with the military.
Leading the crew is Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill, looking like he's having lots of fun). He decides on the team who will join him for this task - people chosen because they are "men who do not keep clean hands".
March-Phillipps is a special operations veteran and, as it so happens, would later form one of the primary inspirations for Ian Fleming's James Bond. Fleming himself is a side character (played by Freddie Fox) who introduces himself as "Fleming, Ian Fleming", a nod we can all delight in.
Then there's Anders Lassen, a Danish military officer who, at least in this film, enjoys taking down swathes of enemy combatants all on his own.
With his light Danish accent, tiny glasses and period-era costume, Alan Ritchson (Reacher) is a scene-stealer and one of the best things about the film.
Rounding out the team are explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), youngster Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, another of those sporting a questionable accent), unfazed officer Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) and undercover agents Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and Margorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez, who gets to wear some truly incredible costumes).
Cary Elwes as Brigadier Gubbins ends up in much the same role he had in Ritchie's earlier Operation Fortune: Ruse de Gurre, liaising with Churchill (played not especially convincingly by Rory Kinnear), while German actor Til Schweiger rounds out the main cast as an important Nazi figure on Fernando Po, the island where the action is set. Schweiger's appearance further enhances the feeling that this film is the Ritchie version of Inglorious Basterds, without changing the history.
The action sequences are fun, there's classic Ritchie banter and everyone seems to be having a very good time.
Bond isn't the only famous fictional work to get a nod in the film - one of Casablanca's many iconic lines, "I believe this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship", also gets a run. These little inclusions make The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare even more enjoyable, enough so that you can forgive Ritchie for throwing the wordy title into the dialogue as well.
Once the film ends, viewers are treated to title cards giving more information on the titular "ministry" post-operation, along with some archive photos.
