The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Guy Ritchie (2024)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’s heavily fictionalized account of Operation Postmaster is an total lark of a movie. On the one hand, it’s clear that everyone involved had a lot of fun making it; in particular, Henry Cavill is rakishly demented as Gus March-Phillipps (one of the real-life inspirations for James Bond) and the film’s biggest laughs come from Alan Ritchson (Reacher) affecting a Danish accent. Plus, it’s always fun to see Nazis dispatched on the screen in all manner of ridiculous ways. But the film is so much of a lark that when our (anti-)heroes get in a tight spot — when their plans goes awry and the Nazis turn out to be smarter than expected — it’s hard to care about them. Obviously, not every WW2 film needs to a solemn affair, and I appreciate director Guy Ritchie’s attempts to inject his WW2 film with an anarchic spirit, but it’s ultimately shallow and disposable.
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