The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

In 1940, Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming form a clandestine combat organization for Britain's military that changes the course of World War II and prefigures the modern black ops unit through its unconventional and entirely ‘ungentlemanly’ fighting techniques against the Nazis.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Action, History, War
  • Stars: Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Henry Zaga, Alex Pettyfer, Cary Elwes, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, Til Schweiger, Fisher Stevens, Danny Sapani, Freddie Fox, Carlos Bardem, Olaf Kayhan, Mert Dincer, Roger Snipes, Ethel von Brixham, Rory Kinnear, James Wilby
  • Director: Guy Ritchie
 Comments
  • u-53697 - 2 July 2024
    Good cast poor story telling
    It was a movie with no twist. The straight line story of the movie seems predictable from the very first scene. Although it was written based on true story the director may add one or two twist in the movie. The action scenes of the movie is completely unrealistic. The entire german army versus five people and they won without losing any crew member. And the chosing a coloured person as a spy in second world war in Germany insist weak crew chosing. Moreover the acting of Eiza don't fit the scenes perfectly. And german admiral ferocity and cunningness isn't shown on the movie. For example Hans Landa is the perfect example of how germans are at second world war. Besides the destruction of the ships scene was quite inadequate as in real life not every plan don't execute perfectly. The Director can add one or two flaws in the plan to make the movie interesting. Continues winning of the heros make the movie quite plane as it is the opponents becomes quite weak. The movie actually tried to copy some concepts from inglorious bastard but failed to execute properly.
  • IonicBreezeMachine - 20 June 2024
    A fun Guy Ritchie take on Macaroni Combat that feels like a breezy mashup of Ocean's 11 and Inglorious Basterds
    Set during 1941, Nazi Germany continues to engulf all of Europe as the United Kingdom is left to stand on its own. With German U-Boats patrolling the Atlantic, prospects of either needed supplies or American reinforcements are unlikely. As Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) stands fast against the Nazis while other officials prefer to pursue appeasement, Churchill enlists M (Cary Elwes) and Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox) of the Special Operations Executive to recruit an off the books team to sabotage the Nazi U-Boats at Fernando Po. Lead by Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), the off the books team travel to Fernando Po to take out U-Boat supply lies while Agents Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) and Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) run covert support undercover with Nazi commander Luhr (Til Schweiger).

    The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is the latest film from Guy Ritchie and is loosely adapted from the 2014 non-fiction book "Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII" by Damien Lewis. Covering a very dramatically licensed take on Operation Postmaster, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare sees Ritchie taking a similarly fun approach to World War II that he brought to both the Sherlock Holmes films as well as his Man from U. N. C. L. E. Adaptation.

    Taking pages from WWII adventures of the past such as Kelly's Heroes or various Alistair MacLean, the plot is kept fairly simple and like a well-oiled machine serves as an excuse for our set of actors to banter with one another and engage in exiting action sequences. Henry Cavill once again shows himself to be a capable leading man with his rough but charming take on Gus March Phillips quite fun and he's supported by a worthy ensemble including Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer (in a surprisingly solid performance), and Hero Fiennes Tiffin making for a fun and adventurous group. One particular scene with the five discussing their plan of attack has some few drops of homo erotic subtext that you can tell Ritchie is having fun playing with as a cheeky aside to the kind of movie this is. Needless to say Ritchie knows how to stage a compelling action sequence and we get plenty on display here.

    The B-plot involving agents Stewart and Heron is unfortunately one of the weaker parts of the story and while I think they do okay, there's really not the same level of quick pacing and snappy dialogue as there are among March-Philipps group with these sequences instead opting for more deliberate paced espionage scenes as they navigate around Luhr. This is where I feel comparisons to Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds come into play because like that film there is sort of this notion that even in the soundtrack that this is a western dressed up in World War II clothing and Stewart even has a similar motivation to Dreyfus' character from that film but it just plays more flatly. It's probably a little unfair to compare the film against Inglorious Basterds, but there I felt both plot threads were equally strong where this felt a lot more lopsided while still being enjoyable.

    The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a fun bit of violent escapism and it's the kind of movie I have more than a few soft spots for because it's what I would've watched with my dad on a lazy afternoon. It could've used a bit of tightening up and maybe some spit and polish on the B-plot, but it's a solid afternoon viewing if one is inclined.