The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Available on Amazon Prime

Guy Ritchie’s gradual transition from blockbuster director to a quasi-gun for hire for streaming giants has been an intriguing evolution to behold, yielding results that are both surprisingly solid (The Covenant) and the exact opposite (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre). His latest, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is something of a paradox, bombing at the box office while also garnering generally positive reviews. 

The screenplay, which was co-written by Ritchie, provides a wildly fictionalised take on Operation Postmaster, a British special operation conducted during WWII that was scarcely known until recently. Although mostly nonsensical, it is delivered cheekily by a pleasingly eclectic cast that is helmed by Henry Cavill, whose performance as Major Gus March-Phillips could easily be misinterpreted as an audition to be the next James Bond. While not the most versatile of performers, Cavill has that rare blend of good looks, roguish charm, and an almost implausible amount of muscles that make for a good 007, and Ritchie seemingly knows this, rightly centering much of this caper on his leading man.

That being said, Cavill is at times upstaged by Babs Olusanmokun and, in particular, Eiza González, whose performances as fellow special operatives contribute to much of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’s most entertaining moments. Of course, none of this is enough to dispel the usual shortcomings of a Ritchie movie - namely an overindulgence in senseless violence, one-dimensional antagonists, and intermittently flagrant misogyny - but this is fun enough to rank as one of the director’s better efforts, even if it does quickly fade from one’s memory.