Guy Ritchie’s WWII Romp: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Review

Introduction: Guy Ritchie WWII Romp

Nazi failures are one thing that WWII directors never seem to get enough of, and Guy Ritchie courageously presents a noteworthy one in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. This is a milder version of Inglourious Basterds directed by Quentin Tarantino, filled with additional gags about bad German cuisine. Ritchie utilizes British war plans to fictionalize author Damien Lewis’s 2014 expose on Winston Churchill’s 1942 classified execution of Operation Postmaster.

He appreciates the clichés of spy fiction, and his cynical humor and audacious interpretation of history make it a gutsy, snappy, and tremendously amusing rendition of history that kills Nazis with a joyous swagger. The Second World War got the red carpet Ritchie treatment, similar to a history lecture from the cool high school instructor who specializes in spaghetti westerns and mafia films.

True Story Foundation:

Though not as much as you might imagine, “Based on a True Story” achieves a significant bit of heavy lifting. As Gus March-Phillipps, the mission leader, Henry Cavill portrays a true operative of Winston Churchill’s covert team. (Rory Kinnear, meantime, gives a good picture of the well-known prime minister).

To infiltrate the Spanish island of Fernando Po off the coast of West Africa, where a Nazi U-boat supply vessel is now stationed, Gus is asked to put up a crack squad, which he executes in a workmanlike montage manner.

Everything in it—from Churchill’s unsanctioned practices to Gus’ nocturnal raid—is correct in reality, but Ritchie, who has an instinctual knack for entertaining, can’t help but let his imagination run wild. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, depicted by a cadre of righteous assassins who see the extermination of the Nazis as a game, isn’t afraid to be comical or participate in comic book-style violence, so don’t anticipate a grave military drama a la Dunkirk.

Action-packed Narrative:

The actual Operation Postmaster was a stunning success, taking just half an hour from harbor entry to a speedy departure; The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is bloodier and more convoluted, requiring two hours. To establish a gung-ho tone early on and allow Ritchie’s ghost operatives to transform a Nazi outpost into a carnival shooting gallery, Gus must first release a kidnapped ally from Nazi interrogations and nipple torture.

Without any huge battlefield action, Ritchie seems to want people to see as much magnificent military fighting as possible in a microcosmic WWII narrative. On land, at water, and everywhere in between, Gus and his buddies smash platoons of Nazi soldiers; thankfully, action pauses are always deserved by some type of setup.

Even when impediments stack up, the team of four screenwriters—including Ritchie—never seems to run out of problems for Gus to conquer, and there is never too much time without exciting action.

Atmosphere and Style:

Maybe that’s because The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has a nice atmosphere, as indicated by the characters’ whistling during work (by which I mean, eliminating Hitler’s men). When Cavill unleashes his suppressed automatic weapon on Nazis, his visage turns into unbridled glee that is simultaneously seductive and clever.

Even more amusing to witness in action is Alan Ritchson as the unstoppably nasty Anders Lassen: The Danish hunter wields either his bow and arrow or bladed weapons, and this massive hardbody can shoot it so hard that his customized projectiles pierce original victims for double kills that are gruesomely satisfying. Although these are the most “ridiculous” characteristics of Ritchie’s Hollywoodized vision, he makes a thorough effort to make sure that his objectives are plain and unmistakable.

For example, Christopher Benstead’s soundtrack blends whistle-blowing Italian Western themes that harken back to the old exploitation movies and snappy, swing-jazz components. It may be that the way it becomes clear that Gus’s operatives will continue to escape danger reduces the overall excitement. That’s a side effect, but it doesn’t matter because Ritchie is only concerned with crafting an entertaining action-adventure game in which Nazis receive the full brunt of their rightful punishments.

Supporting Subplots:

In a subplot involving hidden agents stationed in Fernando Po, Ministry falters and Ritchie’s dreams falter. The chameleon-like Eiza González and the unflappable casino and bar manager Babs Olusanmokun are charged with diverting the attention of a local Nazi overlord, which results in a bouncy pace.

Even though González is the queen of performative calm while facing Til Schweiger’s nasty German butcher Heinrich Luhr, who is poised to attack at the slightest error, Ritchie becomes lost in the sweaty-palmed nature of concepts that can’t go wrong. Heinrich is the Bond villain in connection to Gus if Gus is a 1940s Bond type. In these settings, Ritchie’s more readily drawn into clichés related to espionage, which meets the desire for cat-and-mouse dynamics that are less successful when Gus’ commandos are playing gangbusters in contrast.

Character Dynamics:

Even if there isn’t a terrible character among the enormous group, some of them crave additional depth. When other performers take the attention, Henry Golding’s Freddy “Froggy” Alvarez, a superb swimmer and demolition specialist with a propensity for arson, nearly seems to lose his wonderful differentiating traits. Instead, he is confined to the position of a Plain Jane.

Gubbins, the distinguished British ambassador played by Cary Elwes, is the opposing party to this claim, as he sucks up every word of comedy in the command room.

With characters like Freddy acting as the ultimate symbol of a raised floor, Ritchie is never at his worst in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (see you, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword). Though he may not be the most original and distinctive of Gus’s wayward rogues, the explosives guy never causes trouble. Ultimately, if they’re all that amazing at murdering Nazis, you’d have to mess up every character development to entirely squander that potential.

Conclusion:

Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a compelling dramatization of the Second World War that presents an extraordinary, semi-true narrative in a way that only this distinctive British director can. Henry Cavill combines action sequences with spy game thrills as he leads his gang of merry miscreants to war on every Nazi within eyeshot.

While the plot occasionally feels excessively familiar and the overall tempo occasionally falters between Gus’ antics and supporting character focus switches, neither of these issues jeopardizes the production. The fact that Ministry exists to dance on Nazi graves is OK; more films ought to do this. With a Ritchie picture, you typically know what to anticipate, and this ungentlemanly joy never lets you down. You’ll be okay if Alan Ritchson comes up and executes a Nazi savagely whenever the going gets difficult.

EXPECTING JOY: HENRY CAVILL’S PARENTHOOD JOURNEY BEGINS!

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