With 26 years and 14 films under his belt, there’s clearly no sign of Guy Ritchie slowing down any time soon. While he does have just as many misses as hits—when he gets it right, it’s a nonstop ride of fun. With The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, it’s another hit, filled with hilarious banter and explosive action, all wrapped around as badass an adaptation as you could hope for of Damien Lewis’s even longer named book, Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII.
At the height of WWII in 1942, the UK was coming up short on stopping Nazi Germany from taking over Europe. Brigadier Colin Gubbins (Cary Elwes) is grasping at straws, but comes up with a plan to launch Operation Postmaster to sabotage the Nazi U-boats, cutting off their supply of weaponry. Backed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear), Gubbins calls upon Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), who is willing to lead the mission so long as he’s granted his own crew.
Now Gus, along with his ragtag team—Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), and Henry James (Hero Fiennes Tiffin)—plan to meet Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Mr. Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) in Nazi controlled Fernando Po. Little do they know, their biggest obstacle may wind up being Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger), the man simply described as the only thing worse than a Nazi.
Even while based on a true story, I can only imagine the liberties taken to adapt the story for the big screen. The biggest “culprit” is how much plot armor all of the characters have, causing you to constantly remind yourself that it all really happened. At least most of it anyway, I’m sure. The cast are having a complete ball with their larger than life counterparts to real people, but when you’re in this kind of movie, you better be having fun, or there’s no hope for the audience.
Ritchie fills the screen with as much gunfire and explosions as you’d expect from a WWII film, but it’s usually done in an extremely comedic vein. It’s over the top at its finest. While walking out you’ll definitely realize you’ve just seen the best Dirty Great Escape of a Dozen Inglourious Basterds you didn’t know you needed. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare may not be getting the marketing overhaul as another film opening this weekend, but hopefully word-of-mouth will spread and it can find an appreciative audience. Because this Ministry is a take-no-prisoners-extravaganza-of-fun from start to finish.
