Time: 120 Minutes
Cast:
Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillipps
Eiza González as Marjorie Stewart
Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen
Henry Golding as Freddy Alvarez
Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard
Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Henry Hayes
Babs Olusanmokun as Richard Heron
Cary Elwes as Brigadier Gubbins ‘M’
Til Schweiger as Heinrich Luhr
Henry Zaga as Captain Binea
Director: Guy Ritchie

I have been liking Guy Ritchie’s post Aladdin career, with films like The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and The Covenant, so naturally I was looking forward to his next movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. From the trailers it looked quite fun, a World War II action movie with a big cast led by Henry Cavill. Having finally seen it, I do think that it is lower tier Ritchie for sure, but I still enjoyed it.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a familiar World War II movie about killing Nazis. On the whole though, it was quite entertaining with some good humour. It does seem to be split into two storylines, one with Eliza Gonzalez and Babs Olusanmokun doing some spy and infiltration work, and the other with Henry Cavill and others doing some nazi killing. I liked both storylines, but admittedly, it did feel like the former was the only plotline that actually had things progressing with the plot until the two converged. Ministry is definitely a light, breezy and fluid affair and it is enjoyable as such. However, it does result in a movie that feels stakeless and tensionless despite the dialogue stressing the importance of the central mission, and characters generally plow through nazis without much of a struggle or adversity. The story itself wasn’t that captivating either, generally forgettable, and told through a lot of clunky exposition. Despite being only 2 hours long, it really has its dry patches, and those moments can really drag.

One of the biggest appeals of the movie was the massive and talented cast they have, including Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Babs Olusanmokun and Cary Elwes. They have good chemistry together and seem to be having a lot of fun. Out of all of them, the standouts for me were González, Ritchson and Olusanmokun.

Guy Ritchie directs this, and while its not nearly as stylistic as his other movies, his style is certainly on display. The action is fairly entertaining, if a little underwhelming at times. It doesn’t have the brutal violence of Wrath of Man or The Covenant, nor is it the hyper style of Sherlock Holmes. Its more in line with Operation Fortune and is relatively on autopilot, only shining when the action focuses on Alan Ritchson. It is rated R, but surprisingly only feels a small step above PG-13. I think it really needed to have a bit more gore to make those scenes pack a bit more of a punch. Ritchie’s new go-to-composer Chris Benstead provides yet another solid to great score which makes the movie even better.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a familiar and semi-engaging, but nonetheless entertaining action war movie, benefitting from a solid cast. As far as Guy Ritchie’s filmography goes, this sits right next to Operation Fortune, a breezy light and fun, but forgettable movie and some of his weakest work.