In the early years of World War II, a team of soldiers is sent on an unofficial, unauthorized mission to disrupt the Nazi submarine program.
“Remember gentlemen, try to have fun,” says Gus Marsh-Phillips, played by Henry Cavill in The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It is an educational line. This is a very silly kind of war movie, an action comedy with only an occasional level of Wikipedia-reading historical reality. It is very loosely based on the real Operation Postmaster, the daring operation that saw a team of commandos steal enemy warships from the Germans.
In the midst of a prolific series, director Guy Ritchie is here in a less gangster mood, and more in “The Man from UNCLE” mode. That’s not to say there aren’t Richie’s ideas to be found. The colorful ensemble is introduced with a montage that you could describe as Snatch-ian, introducing characters like Henry Golding’s Freddy ‘Frogman’ Alvarez, or Alan Ritchson’s tough-as-nails scoundrel Anders Lassen.
The director keeps things lively and energetic, with at least one moment where the men aren’t looking at the explosions.
But there is a strange mixture of tones. It is often said that the risks are enormous. It is assumed that this mission could change the course of the war. However, the movie is basically a romp. In places, Christopher Benstead’s cheerful score sounds like an impression of Ennio Morricone, and seems to recall the bloody World War II fantasy found in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
When it comes to Nazis, Ritchie seems to follow the Indiana Jones philosophy: that they are the ultimate villain, and therefore fair game as cannon fodder. (Not to mention that the real mission didn’t involve any casualties.) Ritchie’s style is very violent in video games: one of the hidden missions is literally described by Cavill’s character as “stealth mode,” which is unspeakable 1940s parlance. However, the director keeps things lively and energetic, with at least one moment where the men aren’t looking at the explosions. However, these wonderful people are rarely in great danger.
Of the group, Cavill is in good form, taking his elemental English charm to just the right level; Til Schweiger, who plays the bad-ass Nazi Heinrich Lohr, is visibly hissing. Some of them are wildly wrong, mind you: Rory Kinnear sadly joins the ever-swelling ranks of Winston Churchill caricature-makers. Meanwhile, Eiza González, as the only female character here, is unfairly lumped into a script that believes a woman’s primary quality is her ability to seduce men.
So, it’s far from perfect, not only caring about its history and characters but also its structure (after two hours, it looks sloppy). But its arrival straight to streaming feels appropriate: it’s a completely undemanding watch. Just don’t watch it with a historian.
Guy Ritchie’s non-historical romp is part gritty spy thriller, part bullet-riddled action, part raunchy comedy, and all parts silly.
