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.
REVIEW:
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Guy Ritchie’s blandest film since Swept Away. It’s a fictionalized account of a recently discovered World War II Brit black ops (supposedly the original such tactical squad) to damage German U-boats supply lines in the North Atlantic and entice the Americans to join the war. It was adapted from Damian’s Lewis’ account of the operation. Supposedly, a young Ian Fleming based James Bond on the commando, Gus March-Phillips, played in Ministry by a mustachioed and heavily bearded Henry Cavil.
Ministry is a pretty old fashion war film with standard issue Nazi villains but updated with R rated flourishes for language, gory action and hand to hand combat. The half Dirty Dozen which are the customary handsome and adept fighting force include the forementioned March-Phillips who is good with a gun but not at taking orders. Under him are the munitions expert Alvarez (Henry Golding), the ship’s captain Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), the strategist Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) and the comically ripped Dane Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson); the actress Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Fernando Po’s premiere club owner Mr. Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) are part of the crew too.
Since these suave combatants are supposedly the archetypes for every modern spy/acrion/war thriller, they run around doing cliché things- but with enough style to make everything that came after them look like the audience has seen it a dozen times before. Unfortunately the Nazis remain dumb and stupid and incapable of hitting the broadside of a Brit’s backside. There are the usual redundant redundancies on redundancy where things need to be explained three times so those in the audience who fell asleep or munched too loudly on their concessions need not miss crucial exposition. Its not fun watching mission critical info march up the chain of command. Nor plot twists coming with the declaration “That wasn’t suppose to happen yet.”
Since Ministry is also to be slightly comedic, as is customary, it has to lower the dramatic and historical stakes. That makes the film as boring to watch as the stiff upper lips of the aware higher echelons when the underlings catch on and start complaining about how this Churchill (Rory Kinear) commissioned secret raid is not suppose to happen. Code redundancy may make for great software, but when it’s pounded out by four monkey scriptwriters, the Artificial Intelligence the striking script masses feared will come, has arrived, and occupied the collective creative hive.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is neither a good movie nor a terribly enjoyable one. Its greatest flaw- it’s content with its middle existence.
The Ministry of Ungetlemanly Warfare gets a 3.0/5 or a B.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Screenplay by
- Paul Tamasy
- Eric Johnson
- Arash Amel
- Guy Ritchie
Based on
Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII
by Damien Lewis
Produced by
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Guy Ritchie
- Chad Oman
- Ivan Atkinson
- John Friedberg
Starring
- Henry Cavill
- Eiza González
- Alan Ritchson
- Alex Pettyfer
- Hero Fiennes Tiffin
- Babs Olusanmokun
- Henry Golding
- Cary Elwes
Cinematography
Ed Wild
Edited by
James Herbert
Music by
Production
companies
- Black Bear Pictures
- Jerry Bruckheimer Films
- Toff Guy Films
- Red Sea Film Fund
- C2 Motion Picture Group
- Media Capital Technologies
- Plus Studio
Distributed by
Release dates
- April 13, 2024(New York City)
- April 19, 2024(United States)
Running time
120 minutes
Countries
United Kingdom
United States
Language
English
Budget
$60 million[2
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