The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Film Review
Guy Ritchie is on quite a prolific streak – he released Operation Fortune and The Covenant last year and he’s already back on our screens with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
This action comedy loosely tells the story of Operation Postmaster, a real unofficial and unauthorised mission discovered in Winston Churchill’s files when they were declassified in 2016. During World War II in 1942, he assembled a team to disrupt the Nazi’s U-boat operation by sinking the Italian supply ship Duchessa d’Aosta, which was stationed at the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po off the coast of West Africa.
The aforementioned ‘ministry’ is made up of Gus-March Phillips (Henry Cavill), Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer). While they approach Fernando Po by trawler boat, agents Marjorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) and Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) go undercover to gain information from Nazis on the island.
On paper, this sounds like an exciting and interesting film depicting true events. But unfortunately, it is mostly flat and dull and never as fun or entertaining as it should have been. I really liked the first 30 minutes and there are some good moments – a mission to rescue Appleyard from La Palma, for example – but it all feels rather shallow. This real story of heroism has been transformed into generic action fodder.
It doesn’t help that the film is far too long and the pacing is totally wrong. It drags in the middle as it cuts back and forth between Stewart and Heron and the boys on the boat. We spend more time with the espionage agents even though the boys are much more fun. The narrative builds towards the raid on Fernando Po, which is decent but not as exciting as it could have been.
On the plus side, Cavill is clearly having a great time and really gets the tone and sense of humour. Ritchson is also a standout as the bulked-up action man who violently kills many Nazis. He’s the one who puts the action in action comedy. Unfortunately, there are plenty of inconsistent accents on display, including Gonzalez’s wobbly British, but the worst offender was Rory Kinnear‘s awful interpretation of Churchill. He didn’t sound anything like him and his portrayal is pretty terrible. Maybe Ritchie did this deliberately as a joke, but it doesn’t work regardless.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is an average action comedy that wastes its promising potential.
On Prime Video from Friday 26th July