THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (AMAZON PRIME) (2024)

SYNOPSIS: Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE is an action-comedy that tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming. The top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately their audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern Black Ops warfare.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Not satisfying in directing a contemporary war movie in the form of Covenant starring Jake Gillenhaal, Guy Ritchie takes his firepower back to 1942 when the Nazis was planning to take over Britain.

Based on Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis and retitled to the equally mouthful The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the latest Ritchie’s big screen effort stars Henry Cavill as Major Gus March-Phillipps. Tasked by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Gus must lead a ragtag crew of soldiers to destroy the German’s deadly U-boats on Fernando Po in a mission dubbed Operation Postmaster.

Besides Gus, the mission also consists of Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Heron (Babs Olusanmokun). Like the Avengers, each possess a different skillset to destroy the Nazis in particular Heinrich Luhr (Germany’s most famous export Til Schweiger), the cunning SS Commander in charge.

In the grand tradition of a Guy Ritchie’s movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare flirts occasionally with the director’s style of stylized dialogue, fast-paced editing and visual style although we must admit his unique style of filmmaking has shrunk over the years compared to his early years. Still, the spy drama had a great time showcasing the killing of Nazis especially Ritchson’s character who is fond of taking the hearts out of his enemies and Gus putting on a naughty face before killing everyone in the room.

Both Ritchie and his cast members are having lots of fun obviously. González had a memorable, terrific song-and-dance segment not forgetting the massive body count and major explosions happening outside while the D&D is going on. However, the unfortunate part of being cast in an ensemble flick is that some actors are going to receive the shorter end of the stick notably Golding who played a bomb expert and Alex Pettyfer portraying an intelligence officer.

The writing is straightforward so don’t go in expecting an Inglourious Basterds outing despite González and Olusanmokun’s characters had a few genuinely delightful talky scenes which amounts little to the overall effort. As a result, it might seem unsatisfying to some but we guessed Ritchie’s foremost mission is to entertain the audiences and this is by far, a top-tier old school war flick. In this case, Ritchie has succeeded in his own personal mission and also about time for Cavill to take on more leading man roles.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee