Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

As a generic action flick I guess this is sort of ok. For the new Guy Ritchie film its super disappointing. The only stand out aspect is Hugh Grant who is excellent. The rest, from storyline, acting, action sequences, comedy are all incredibly mediocre. Statham does his most basic Statham when he can do much more given the script and direction. Aubrey is ok, i think she was supposed to be funny though and she isnt at all, that isnt her problem because she is generally awesome. The other guy, was just filler, im not sure what he was even there for. The main thing though is the story, its just nothing, it could be a Steven Seagal movie it has no twists turns or surprises.

'Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre' is the 5th time director Guy Ritchie has used Jason Statham in one of his films - and if it ain't broke, don't fix it! This is a pretty straight-forward spy-action-adventure, with a fair bit of comedy thrown in - closer to 'The Man From U. N. C. L. E.' than 'Wrath of Man'. I'd say I liked it better than 'The Gentlemen', but not as much as 'Snatch'. There is only minor introductions for Orson Fortune (Statham), Sarah (Plaza) and JJ (Malone) as the spy team working for Nathan (Elwes), before we're off and running.

Not sure why the "Ruse de Guerre" suffix was needed, but it translates as a cunning war trick. I assume it also helps if there are to be sequels. The trick is that the team use actor Danny Francesco (Hartnett) as bait for billionaire arms-dealer Greg Simmonds (Grant), to track a stolen weapon. Most of the plot is quite formulaic, but Statham & Ritchie know how to stage action scenes and there's plenty of exciting moments.

Hartnett plays spoiled actor well; Plaza has plenty of fun; Malone, Elwes and Statham are all solid; with Hugh Grant relishing the role, having even more fun than he did in 'The Gentlemen'. Not too long, satisfying ending, noting too new, but a nice mix of comedy and action with a good cast.

While this isn't even a patch on Guy Ritchie's first couple of movies with Jason Statham, or his first movie with Hugh Grant, it's a pretty damn solid bit of fun with touches of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and at least one ever-so-slight nod to The Princess Bride.

The main cast are excellent - especially Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett (who it's great to see finally getting some consistent work the last few years), and Hugh Grant - and the henchmen are nice and henchy, giving Statham ample opportunity to flex his fighting muscles AND his banter muscles. The bad guys are kinda meh, though, and could have been at least a little less forgettable. Maybe.

Still, it's a great way to pass the time with a bowl of popcorn and a bag of Malteasers. You could easily do a lot worse.

See you next Tuesday.

If you want some fun, light-hearted entertainment, and you enjoyed Bullet Train, then Operation Fortune is going to hit the spot.

The action is fast-paced, the characters breezy (Hugh Grant is having an utter blast) and the dialogue fun. I am going to be using "you don't have the bandwidth for that" a lot!

Statham leads a team of operatives to recover The Handle, a mysterious thing that everyone wants. But he is not the only team of agents after it, and the two teams getting in each other's way causes more problems than the international arms dealers that they are pursuing.

Throw in a narcissistic movie star and Cary Elwes (I am *so* glad that he is getting more big movie roles these days), and you have a movie that will have you grinning from start to finish.

This would be a "straight to DVD" if not for Guy Ritchie. As a Ritchie-fan i was quite disappointed walking home from the theatre. I miss the dialogue Guy Ritchie is known for. The scence of black humor we know from other Guy Ritchie movies is also missing.

Hugh Grant saves the day with his performance, but we also see terrible acting from Josh Hartnett among others. Statham is Statham, nothing more, nothing less.

Don't spend your money watching this film in theatres. In a few weeks, it will probably be available on Netflix and as a tuesday evening timekiller it's probably worth watching. Be better next time Guy, we know that you could do better.