Operation Mincemeat

Operation Mincemeat

In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.

  • Released: 2021-11-06
  • Runtime: 128 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History, War
  • Stars: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Johnny Flynn, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Jason Isaacs, Mark Gatiss, Hattie Morahan, Paul Ritter, Tom Wilkinson, Simon Russell Beale, Lorne MacFadyen, Markus von Lingen, Ruby Bentall, Alex Jennings, Ellie Haddington, Nicholas Rowe, Will Keen, Mark Bonnar, James Fleet, Alexander Beyer, Nico Birnbaum, Pep Tosar, Alba Brunet, Pedro Casablanc, Óscar Zafra, Javier Godino, Jonjo O'Neill, Amy Marston, Gabrielle Creevy, Simon Rouse, Paul Lancaster, Michael Bott, Charlotte Hamblin, Rufus Wright
  • Director: John Madden
 Comments
  • stevehyland-55315 - 20 May 2024
    A PALE IMITATION OF "THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS"
    Once upon a time, Britain produced wonderful, realistic movies about the war, or more generally about the military. Thankfully I'm old enough to have watched these movies from before British filmmaking was feminised. I have in mind, movies like "In Which We Serve" (1942), "Sink the Bismarck" (1960), "Guns of Batasi" (1964) - or last, but certainly not least, "The Man Who Never Was" (1956), the predecessor of "Operation Mincemeat".

    "Operation Mincemeat" is like none of these. It could have been. There were even glimpses. But instead it ended up being "a sensitive exploration of the role of two junior officers and a multitude of woman saving thousands". It was a movie where the male and female leads sit around interminably developing a dead man's character - and especially in developing his fictional love life. We're invited to allow ourselves to be captured by the romance of it, just as Montagu (Colin Firth) and. Jean Leslie (Kelly MacDonald) were. But alas, instead of just having sex and getting on with the movie, this half-baked romance hung over the entire movie like a pall.

    Possibly the worst scene in the movie - at least for me - was the scene in which Montagu and Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfayden) stood at a wall map briefing the submarine captain (a mere lieutenant) on the mission. That's not how an important mission would be briefed! But the truly twee part of the scene was when, at the end of the briefing, the lieutenant jumped to attention, told Montagu and Cholmondeley that their plan would save thousands, and snapped a parade ground salute. I couldn't believe my eyes - but there was more!! This theatrical salute was immediately returned together by Montagu and Cholmondeley (without caps) with an equally theatrical rendition of a parade ground salute! As the submarine captain departed scene right, the two main characters looked at each other and both confessed that they felt like vomiting. Frankly, after that scene, so did I!

    The movie's ending, which had Montagu and Cholmondeley sitting at the top of some steps congratulating each other on how many lives they saved. It was what I'd expect at the end of a Mills and Boon paperback, not a serious war movie.

    Why was the movie so nauseatingly "chick flick" like? Most of the blame must lie at the feet of the writer of the screenplay, Michelle Ashford, but a good portion of blame must also go to the Director, John Madden, for allowing the sensitive drivel to get through. It's a very disappointing movie!
  • fostrhod - 26 September 2023
    the man that never was.....
    Operation Mincemeat 2021. Based on real life events..... or an update of "the Man That Never Was"(1956). Set in the 2nd World War with the British Secret Service planning a cunning ruse to confuse the German's of a proposed Allied landing in Sicily, in the vain hope that they will believe that they will land in Greece, consequentially German Men and Arms would fortifying in the wrong place inturn there would be less Allied casulaties. I watched this on the recommendation of a work colleague Alan, a passionate man when it comes to all things historical and probably in the bedroom, which is contrary to the principal leads in the story. It's all stiff upper lips and nothing else, along with their cold detachment. The promise of a love affair developing goes nowhere creating a story that isn't there.... If your interested in Operation mincemeat try to seek out the original movie (I will be doing) or have a read of the facts as reported on the Wikipedia pages, which will reveal some interesting facts on the red herring of Ivor Montague (the Russian Spy) and also the role of Ian Fleming who actually narrates the movie whilst writing a novel.... The Wikipedia page also as a photo of Glyndwr Michael the real hero of the story in his uniform about to be packed on the submarine (watch the movie and you'll know what I'm referring to) Nice footnote with Glyndwr's amended headstone shown in the film.

    A detached 5/10.