The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Review

 

When it comes to influential names in cinema I don’t think there’s a name that sticks more than Guy Ritchie, from humble beginnings in the late 90s he’s gone on to direct many beloved movies ranging from cult classics to Hollywood blockbusters and his latest effort falls into the category of the latter and possibly could fall into both within a few years’ time.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Ritchie’s latest effort and also features some very impressive behind the scenes talent including producer Jeremy Bruckheimer, who is perhaps best known for his work on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean films.

The movie is based on the true story of Operation Postmaster, a mission that was conducted during World War 2 by the likes of Prime Minister at the time Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming who went on to write James Bond, one of the most influential characters in the spy/action genre. It is believed that Operation Postmaster and the events surrounding it were Ian’s inspiration for the books themselves.

The film has quite an impressive cast of actors. One of the standouts in the movie for me is the lead in this film, Henry Cavill who portrays Gus March-Phillips, the leader of the team and is believed to be the major inspiration for Ian Fleming when he devised the character of James Bond. Quite appropriate considering that Henry himself has been a popular choice for the titular character for quite some time, stemming back to him doing a screen test for the role in the early 2000s for Casino Royale, but lost out on the role to Daniel Craig.

Also amongst the cast are Alan Ritchson, best known for his work in “Reacher” which is an adaptation of Lee Child’s popular Jack Reacher book series and Eiza Gonzalez who is best known for roles in Baby Driver, Bloodshot and Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw. Other names in the cast include Alex Pettyfer, Babs Olusanmokun, Cary Elwes, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and many more.

 

The film is set in 1941 at the height of the Second World War when Germany was at the height of its power. A military brigadier by the name of Colin Gubbins prepared to initiate Operation Postmaster and indirectly received Churchill’s backing. This is another film set during World War 2 that has triumphed critically with the other of course being Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and in a way the setting of World War 2 and these classified missions connects the two films.

One of the many things I enjoyed about the movie was the chemistry between the actors as you can tell they’re all having a good time. Whilst all the performances are brilliant to watch on screen, the two standouts in my opinion are Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson who portrayed Gus March Phillips and Anders Lassen, respectively.

Cavill puts in a remarkable and at times quite a humorous performance as Gus whilst Alan puts in a very similar performance. And whilst Alan my be more adept at action because of his work as Jack Racher, I’m really happy to see Henry in a more grounded superhero role since we are meant to be seeing him take on two major roles within the next few years both on and off the camera with him producing a Warhammer adaptation for Prime Video and starring in the title role in a remake of the film Highlander.

 

Guy directs the film really well and as expected puts his own unique twist on things with his usual flair for characters and camerawork. I should note that the movie’s action is also top notch especially when it came to an action scene with the characters on a rescue mission. Whilst to some it may look a tad generic, I think Guy has done something very unique with the action, which is something a lot of major superhero films struggle to achieve.
But if I was to sum up my overall thoughts, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a sterling effort from Guy Ritchie as director and everyone else involved behind of and in front of the camera. The movie itself is thoroughly enjoyable and I urge you to watch this movie wherever it is available, it is a brilliant movie with brilliant acting and characters.