The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
At this point, Guy Ritchie has leaned into a particular type of genre film that blends humor and action. There are exceptions, to be sure (“Aladdin,” last year’s “The Covenant”), but ultimately he likes his films a bit goofy and bone-crunching in its brutality. In a way, he’s a far cry from the Tarantino-esque crime filmmaker his first films made him out to be, but he has distinguished himself as a particular aficionado of genre in his own right, and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is a prime example of that.
As with “The Covenant,” Ritchie is telling a true story, but that was an earnest true story of being loyal to a fellow human who helped you survive. Here, we get an unbelievable story of heroism that is masked by tomfoolery. My mentioning of QT is appropriate because this film is, in a way, Ritchie’s “Inglorious Basterds,” with its gleeful joy in killing Nazis and off-kilter band of soldiers trying to stick it to Germany. The parallels are unmistakable, and while I don’t think it’s as good as Tarantino’s WWII adventure, there’s plenty of fun to be had in this film.
Prior to America entering the European war, England was barely holding on, battling Germany and Italy on the land and being bombarded by German planes and U-boats. Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) has an idea- in order to take out the U-boats, send a team to where the boats get their supplies, and destroy the main ship. He puts Brigadier Gubbins ‘M’ (Cary Elwes) and Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox) in charge of the clandestine operation, and to head it, they release Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), who has a very specific group of people in mind he wants with him, in addition to Heron (Babs Olusanmokun), who is set up as a Casino Owner on the island, and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González), who will bait the hook for the German leader, Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger), while the Nazis are distracted. The crew is a motley bunch- played by Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Henry Golding- and the adventure has plenty of twists and turns.
If you’re familiar with Ritchie’s tone, you’ll know before entering the theatre whether you’re going to like this film. I was down with Ritchie’s film from the word go, in all its darkly funny, brutal enjoyment. I love it as a men on a mission film, I love how it finds its own way through QT’s “Basterds” structure, and works at its own pace, all while paying tribute to how ballsy this move was by Churchill. I think I’m a Guy Ritchie fan; I don’t necessarily love his films, but what he does I find a lot of entertainment in. This ungainly titled film is no exception.
