The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024, dir. Guy Ritchie)

by | Jul 26, 2024

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 122 mins

UK Distributor: Prime Video

UK Release Date: 25 July 2024

WHO’S IN THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE?

Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, Cary Elwes, Til Schweiger, Henry Zaga, Rory Kinnear, Danny Sapani, Freddie Fox

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Guy Ritchie (director, writer, producer), Arash Amel, Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (writers), Ivan Atkinson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joh Friedberg and Chad Oman (producers), Christopher Benstead (composer), Ed Wild (cinematographer), James Herbert (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

During the Second World War, a group of specialists are hired for a covert mission…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE?

Despite being a regarded homegrown talent, Guy Ritchie has been suspiciously absent from UK cinemas for half a decade now – and it isn’t because he’s had a break from filmmaking.

Far from it, in fact, for he’s made a near-handful features in the last four years – Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, The Covenent and now The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – which were granted traditional theatrical runs in the United States and other countries, but over here they’ve all gone directly to Prime Video, often with very little promotion or general fanfare. The Covenant, for instance, dropped onto the service with nary an announcement, to where I wasn’t even aware of it until after it had been released, and if it wasn’t for certain underground sources, I wouldn’t have known that this film was hitting UK screens at all. I don’t know what kind of deal that Ritchie has struck with Amazon to deny audiences in his own country the chance to experience his work on the big screen, and I’m not entirely sure I want to know.

Truthfully, though, it isn’t worth getting too worked up about, since these recent films of his (including The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) are oddly lacking in the filmmaker’s signature energetic approach. The Guy Ritchie that previously made irreverent and stylish films like Snatch, RocknRolla and the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies has now been swapped out for a much safer and cleaner cut replicant that simply points the camera and shoots. That streamlined approach is all over this film, which tells a story that on paper seems like a real riot, but in execution is strangely reserved and somewhat bland.

Set in the early days of the Second World War, the British government is concerned by the Nazi’s quick rise to power across Europe, and by their impenetrable fleet of U-boats that have cut off supply chains. Against the advice of his contemporaries, Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) greenlights a covert mission to send a group of specialists to neutral territory on an island in West Africa and sabotage the Nazi’s resupply operation. Chosen to lead this unofficial mission is Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), who promptly gathers a ground team consisting of master planner Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), weapons specialist Freddy Alvarez (Henry Cavill) and Danish naval officer Anders Larsson (Alan Ritchson), while government agents Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Richard Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) head off early to the island to gather information and subdue the head Nazi, Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger).

Curiously, for a movie that sounds as though it would benefit from Ritchie’s unconventional style, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is disappointingly as straightforward as it comes, particularly in both its writing and its direction. Concerning the latter, Ritchie and co-writers Arash Amel, Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy plant the seeds for colourful character dynamics and unhinged war violence early on, but then don’t bother to let them sprout beyond their initial shells. The characters lack any real depth, not to mention a genuine camaraderie with one another, and more often than not they all speak and communicate with the same tone of voice, which makes it more difficult to distinguish them from one another. You never feel as though any of these people are in real danger during this perilous mission, and when they are there is nothing to suggest that they’re even the slightest bit affected by what they go through, so it’s hard to care about them or the surprisingly unenthralling stakes surrounding their operation.

Ritchie’s direction also lacks a spark that might have made some of the action more entertaining to watch. Even when our heroes are brutally killing every single Nazi they come across, there is a strange lack of energy that prevents it from being that exciting, with it all being filmed without much urgency or, again, any sense of imminent danger. The only time that Ritchie does inject some decent suspense is in scenes involving Eiza González’s Marjorie and Til Schweiger’s Luhr, which interestingly play around with sound design for an effective moment or two of uncertainty. Outside of that, though, the action is simply just there, not making any real impact or feeling worthy enough of your complete attention.

There are some lively turns from the cast, with Henry Cavill having a bit of fun unleashing some unhinged violence with a proper English accent – the real-life character he’s playing apparently served as a major inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, meaning this is also the closest that he’s likely to ever play 007 – and on occasion Ritchie will show some signs that there is still a playful director somewhere inside of him. Unfortunately, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare offers little else beyond some oddly lethargic action and bland characters who aren’t interesting enough to follow all the way through.

It’s a shame, because there is definitely a solid movie that could be made about this very real wartime operation (albeit one that’s not quite as exaggerated for dramatic purposes), but instead it’s a disappointing rally cry for the real Guy Ritchie to make his big comeback, preferably in UK cinemas.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a disappointingly unexciting war action movie that suffers from director and co-writer Guy Ritchie’s oddly lethargic approach, which leaves you not caring that much for these flat and indistinguishable characters, nor for their suspense-free mission that lacks the director’s signature style and wit.

Two out of five stars

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