The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Guy Ritchie seems to be pumping out a lot of films these days and doing more than his fair share to fill Amazon Prime's catalogue but having been burned by the rather lacklustre Wrath of Man, I wasn't sure if his latest film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, would be worth watching. The idea of learning about a relatively recently disclosed operation in World War 2 sounded exciting and Ritchie certainly had a cast who have proven their worth in other roles so began Operation Hopeful as I pressed play...

During the depths of the war and with Britain suffering at the hands of the German U-boats, a rag-tag team of misfits are assembled to slip through Enemy lines and cripple the German resources on an island off the coast of Nazi-controlled Africa. The story follows a group of soldiers sailing their way along the coast, lead by Henry Cavill, and Eiza González's secret agent working on the island to help ensure the success of the mission.

It all sounds exciting on paper and the film gets off to a fun start with "fun" being the key word here, which is where this Ritchie flick will divide opinion. If you want to see Ritchie try to blend Inglorious Basterds, The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes and many other films together with his cheeky-chappie flair then you have come to the right place, but if you were hoping for a faithful retelling of factual events then you will be left wanting, or not as this film is rather too long. I feel there was a way Ritchie could have satisfied both expectations without compromise but he plays it all too light and reduces what could have been a fascinating story down to a men-on-a-mission action comic book. 

The action is still fun in places but, despite the film's best efforts, it feels like there isn't anything at stake. This shouldn't feel like just a group of lads killing Nazis for a laugh because some general let them loose but that is how it feels, which might have been better if this were shorter 90 minute action flick that plays fast and loose with historical facts much like this does with its one-dimensional characters.

Cavill still does his best and is clearly having a fun time with the rest of the cast who all play their factual/fictional parts as well as possible with the exception of Rory Kinnear's Churchill, which I have to say was just terrible. It's to the point I wondered what the rest of the cast thought of this and if anyone wanted to say anything to help him. But all in all, if a fun WW2 action flick is what you seek then this will be fine enough but if you want something better then look to what this is trying to imitate or Sisu.