THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has everything you have come to know and love about Guy Ritchie: a slick and stylized direction, great moments of comedy, a talented cast and a ton of action, ensuring that Ritchie’s latest directorial effort is an exciting historical romp of action packed proportions.

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If there is one director who knows how to thrill audiences and deliver great popcorn entertainment, it is Guy Ritchie. From his origins and recent return to British gangster films with a biting comedic energy with Snatch and The Gentlemen, reinvigorating series with blockbuster films like Sherlock Holmes and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and bringing Disney’s animated classic Aladdin back to the big screen in a dazzling live action spectacle, Ritchie has proved himself a more than capable filmmaker regardless of the genre he is working in. His latest film, which was previously released earlier this year in the United States and around the world, which is finally debuting in Canada this week on Prime Video, sees Ritchie turn his attention to the Second World War with an action heist film. Armed with a cast of celebrities including Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Eiza González, Henry Golding and Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and enough explosives to give any fine-tuned home theatre setup a good work out, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a rip roaring, exciting, action packed and often hilarious ride that is sure to delight any fans of Ritchie’s filmography.

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While there is no doubt whatsoever that the plot of Ritchie’s latest film is highly factionalized at times, the roots of the story are pulled right out of the history books. The broad strokes of the real life Operation Postmaster are present: the characters are real, there was in fact a top secret British mission to board the Italian and German ships and sail them away to Lagos, and this mission was kept classified and is credited as a contributing factor to the birth of modern black ops. Ritchie and his co-writers take the events of Operation Postmaster and put their on cinematic flair on the events featuring explosive gunfights, cloak and dagger espionage, an Ocean’s Eleven-esque heist sequence in the final act, and a spotlight musical number for González to distract the Nazi forces stationed in Fernando Po. It all comes together in a quickly paced film, with Ritchie’s darker sense of humour rearing its head at many times throughout, treating audiences to what can only be described as the popcorn blockbuster mashup equivalent of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven, and what a highly entertaining two hours it is.

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Ritchie is one of those directors who often recasts the same actors across all his films, and this film sees him reuniting with Cavill, Golding, Babs Olusanmokun, and Cary Elwes. Cavill is having a ball in the lead role of Gus March-Phillips, unleashing a fury in the action sequences with his brute force as he gleefully takes out Nazis one by one, while having a wit and suave to him when required. The real life individual Cavill is portraying was one of Ian Fleming’s inspirations for J

, and you can see that elite secret agent glimpsing through in Cavill’s performance, reminding you instantly why he should be the actor to take up that iconic mantle next. Enlisting with Ritchie for the first time is González, Ritchson, Fiennes Tiffin, and Alex Pettyfer, and the results are great. Ritchson’s approachable persona and large stature is a natural fit for Anders Lassen that results in some great laughs and entertaining action moments, while Fiennes Tiffin and Pettyfer are both fine in their roles, even if they are often overshadowed by Cavill, Ritchson and Golding whom they share the majority of their scenes with. And then there is González, and she is a true force to be reckoned with. With a fiery energy that is both seductive and deadly, González runs away with the entire film as Marjorie Stewart. There is not a moment where she does not dazzle in this film, capturing the larger than life excitement and intensity of Ritchie’s directorial style in one insanely entertaining performance. It truly comes as no surprise that Ritchie has already cast her in his next two films, as the two of them are literally a match made in heaven when it comes to an actor-director pairing, and I personally cannot wait for these collaborations.

When it comes to his signature mark, Ritchie is best known for his ability to direct action and leave an audience laughing uncontrollably, both of which feature prominently in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The action explodes across the screen with a healthy emphasis on practical visual effects featuring large explosions and lots of gunfire, edited together with Ritchie’s fast paced and heavily stylized eye. There is a decent amount of slow motion, typically showing an action sequence play out hypothetically while being narrated by one of the characters, before showing that sequence play out at light speed, which is one of Ritchie’s hallmarks and never fails to entertain. The fight choreography itself is great, while the sets and costumes transport the audience back to Europe in 1941 with ease.  And continuing Ritchie’s trained ear for great music choices, Christopher Benstead’s score captures the grandiose, exciting and perilous tone of the story with a strong musical score, while González’s musical number in the second act just continues to showcase the true range of her talents. Needless to say, it’s another impeccably directed Ritchie production through and through.

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Even if his last few films have missed the theatrical treatment in Canada, I will never not be seated for the latest Guy Ritchie film. Time and time again he has proven he knows how to make a big studio film that is certain to thrill and entertain audiences, and he has done so once again with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Led by remarkable performances from Henry Cavill and Eiza González and featuring sublime and wonderfully stylized action sequences under the talented direction of Guy Ritchie that are certain to get your blood pumping, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is pure blockbuster spectacle of the highest degree.