«The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare» - Movie Review by Kinoafisha

In 1942, by Winston Churchill’s order, a special squad of adventurers is formed to deprive the Nazis of a strategically important warship in the Caribbean. Leading the "trawler squad" is the charming Gus March-Phillips, who has a penchant for petty theft, brandy, cigars, and stylish coats. He assembles his team from a burly archer, an explosives expert, and a couple more specialists — fans of brawls and shootouts. Meanwhile, on land, the operation involves a femme fatale whose mission is to distract and seduce the Germans, and an undercover agent who runs a bar-casino near the port. These agents conduct their daring sabotages behind enemy lines in a decidedly ungentlemanly manner.

"The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" is Guy Ritchie’s new action film, based on Damien Lewis’s documentary book "Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII". Lewis's book is a dramatic account of a secret British mission by a special unit during WWII. Ritchie’s film, however, is a comedy, retaining only the names of the main characters and a few details of Operation Postmaster from the original. This glamorized story is brought to life by Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Henry Golding, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. For the overall atmosphere, Ritchie chose to reference Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds".

It seems Guy Ritchie has accepted the fact that his work is derivative of Tarantino’s and no longer shies away from blatant imitation. From "Inglourious Basterds" comes, for example, the actress playing a recruited agent. But while Tarantino’s Diane Kruger portrayed a vivid and strong woman, González here serves more as eye candy, adding femininity to this masculine ensemble. The cast also includes Til Schweiger from "Basterds" this time playing the most unpleasant of all Nazis (naturally, with special sexual proclivities). Comparisons with Christoph Waltz are inevitable, and Schweiger clearly falls short. There's also a scene where the agents reveal themselves to the Germans. However, there's no point comparing the suspenseful tavern scene, with its brilliant performances, to González’s admittedly spectacular but ultimately superficial stage act.

In the postmodern era, it's odd to criticize an author for making homages to other directors' works. But a major flaw of this film is its complete lack of engagement with Tarantino’s "pretext" which remains unaltered and devoid of new meanings. Tarantino's statement was bold because he placed it in an alternate history. Violence and murder were merely tools to highlight human tragedies, complex characters, and the human will to live — the most valuable thing threatened by war.

In "Ministry" Guy Ritchie doesn’t even attempt to draw conclusions; the film lacks any anti-war pathos. On the contrary, the thrill of violence becomes an end in itself, justified by the choice of a real historical context for the plot. Ritchie arms his characters with various weapons, allowing them to kill indiscriminately, indulging their inner urges to eliminate Nazis. In this plot, all Germans are villains by default — slow, stupid, and complacent. The good guys, whom the audience is taught to root for from the prologue, are attractive, sarcastic, and brave. However, in the book on which Ritchie bases his film, Lewis explores how the work of this group taught people to fight differently, more terrifyingly, as they do in our century. But this idea remains outside the film, which Ritchie envisioned as a pure spectacle, devoid of deeper meanings.

The film lacks engagement with human emotions and moral dilemmas. Even the romance between Gus and Marjorie, mentioned in the title card, seems improbable, given that the characters throughout the film appear incapable of feeling. Henry Cavill's pristine teeth and Eiza González’s filler-enhanced lips look out of place in the wartime 1940s. As do the spotless gentlemen who never break a sweat while shooting Nazis. One future agent, for example, casually hangs with clamps on his nipples, connected to an electrical current. This could have been part of the comedy, but the film fails in the humor department too. It's hard to recall a single joke worth laughing at.

Nevertheless, the star-studded team looks charming on the fishing boat. Initially, the agents' adventures are captivating: the trawler scene and the suitcase trick keep the plot intriguing, much like Ritchie’s "The Man from U.N.C.L.E". with Henry Cavill in the lead role again. But soon, the film loses its tension. One character says, "We’ve got nothing interesting" and this phrase sums up the entire film. This time, Ritchie indeed has nothing interesting for us.