The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

I guess when you set out to make a film based on a true story-- not inspired by, but actually based it-- you're constrained by events.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much tension or ever a sense of our heroes having met their match.

The dialogue was occasionally clever, and the acting was ..fine. Not a lot was asked of this talented cast. Also, as often happens with ensembles, we really only get to know our characters on the most superficial level. (Ensembles need franchises to tease out individuals' personal stories). Hard to be invested in their survival.

And finally, what a waste of Henry Cavill. Cavill has a great face for this sort of role. Smirks, frowns and grins were swallowed up in a curiously overgrown mustache and beard. Why hire That Face and then hide it completely? Similarly, he spends the entire film, bundled up in multiple shabby layers of clothing. We're they trying to hide his physique so he wouldn't look too much like his costar Ritchson? Not a problem as Ritchson has at least 3 inches and 25lbs of muscle on Cavill any day of the week.

They could have hired any one of a dozen other actors for the role if they didn't plan to let us SEE Cavill. And paid a lot less for them.

I came away annoyed by the promise of Cavill unfulfilled and by a storyline that wouldn't have made for an interesting episode of The A Team.

But Alan Ritchson was great. He clearly had way more fun with this character than he gets to have with Reacher.

And it honestly should have been. With this nice ensemble and decent budget, great production design, and a director who in theory definitely should have the chops, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE had everything it needed and more.

And yet, it misses the mark. Much of it has to do with the direction, I'm afraid. A lack of spirit and inspiration can be felt throughout the film, sometimes worse than other times, but neither the shots he called nor his direction of the actors are worthy of Ritchie's potential. The script could have used a bit more polishing, especially concerning the dialogue, but it's really mostly the practical aspects where this falls flat.

If you're a native German speaker, you will also notice how bad the fake Germans actually are. They should have been dubbed, but nobody seemed to care. Even Til Schweiger messed up some lines in German (probably drunk on set, as usual) - nobody cared.

What also made the film worse than it could have been is the score. Someone told the composer to go for "Schifrin meets Morricone", I guess, and what he delivered was a weak attempt at copying both. No swing, no drama, no feeling whatsoever. Just flat and boring, matching the direction perfectly.

That being said, you can still kill a bit of time watching this, since Cavill, Ritchson, et al are very likeable and have a lot of charming presence. Locations are nice, the DoP did a great job with the lighting, and Eiza González has a great singing performance (refreshingly with no audible pitch correction, but as a professional singer with an amazing voice she really doesn't need any), even though the arrangement and interpretation of the famous "Mack The Knife" is quite horrible.

But if anything, this has made me wish for a more silly WW2 comedy with Cary Elwes in the lead. I'd buy that for a dollar.

This movie was kind of what I expected it to be. As of recently guy Ritchie has had a habit of frequently pumping out mediocore action films. But this one takes the cake. There were good elements. Henry Cavill was really good and without a doubt carried this movie.

And he worked really well with his co-actors, most of who were extremely unremarkable. This movie also gives us what is probably the worst Churchill preformance ever. It was kinda predictable but at the same time its "based" on a true story. But my god it was horribly written. When Churchill said "what are you, some sort of ministry of ungentlemanly warfare" I felt my last brain cells die. 6.3/10.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Henry Cavil. It is (very) loosely based on a true story of a British WW2 covert operation called 'Operation Postmaster'. And the film is advertised as a 'Spy Action Comedy'....

I have to admit I'm not a huge Guy Ritchie fan (except for the Sherlock Holmes movies, which Robert Downey Jr. Really brought alive). And the fact that they messed around with what was already a totally remarkable TRUE story, I find strange. Personally, I would have much preferred a straight up historical action / drama / thriller than what is essentially an over the top gorefest. This is as much a WW2 movie as 'Overlord' (think zombies on D-Day). Stranger is that they show the true actual heroes at the end of the movie, goodness knows what their families think of being linked to this fantasy.

It's really not awful, it's a mindless action romp with a huge body count. As some have noted, the dialogue is smug and annoying in equal measure. The shots of sets and extras are all done well though and as you can see from the extremes of the reviews it is the kind of film to polarise opinion.

I enjoyed it, but was just disappointed it veered so far away from what is actually a truly remarkable historical event. But the fashion at the moment seems to be away from this type of movie making.

6/10.

It's basically the same premise as Tarantino's movie - get a cast of outcasts and go and mow through hordes of nazis.

Where Tarantino's version had some nuance, and bad guys actually had some sort of personality, motivation, and charm, here it feels like a Call of Duty game, where NPCs are just standing there, waiting to be shot by the main character.

The only redeeming qualities are - it's apparently based on a true story, the cast is good, and it's a technically competent execution.

If you need a mindless action movie - you might enjoy it, but it's far from the best work of Guy Ritchie, and quite honestly - sad to see the bar has fallen so low for him.