Movie Review: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Director Guy Ritchie was clearly inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds when he decided to take on an adaptation of Damien Lewis’ The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops, but he is unfortunately unable to replicate the things that made that movie work so well, despite having an equally engaging cast and the advantage of some very compelling, true source material.

Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) is trying to get the Americans to assist in World War II against Nazi Germany, but enemy U-boats have control over much of the north Atlantic Ocean, making it all but impossible to get US troops to Europe. With his cabinet urging him to surrender, he has Brigadier Colin Gubbins (Cary Elwes) put together an unofficial, unsanctioned mission to destroy Germany’s supply lines for the ships in order to cripple their dominance of the seas. Gubbins reaches out to Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) to put together a team for Operation Postmaster and destroy the supply ship Duchessa d’Aosta.

Gubbins enlists Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), and Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson) and they set sail for the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po off the coast of Cameroon, while making a pit-stop along the way to rescue SOE saboteur Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), who had been sent ahead of them and captured by the Gestapo. Seperately, Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Mr. Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) are also on their way to the island to scout ahead and let the team know via radio what to expect and begin prepping the area for the mission while also figuring out a way to keep the sadistic Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger) off of their scent.

The cast delight as they swagger their way through the story, exuding the usual mix of charm and bravado that one would expect in a Ritchie movie. Cavill and González in particular seem to relish their roles and are infectiously fun to watch. Everything is staged handsomely if somewhat lacking in the over-the-top style that the plot seems to demand. The characters are all quick with a quip and their staid English sense of decorum can come off as comedic against the mayhem and violence that often surrounds them, but the movie doesn’t lean into that quite as much as it probably should have.

The existence of the mission and its outcome are entirely true, though many liberties have clearly been taken in the depiction of its execution, creating a sort of hyper-violent, wartime fantasy in which a team of charismatic rogues gun down and blow up wave after wave of Nazis. This approach to the material is certainly fun to watch, but it also manages to erase almost any sense of tension as to the fate of those involved, practically offering up victory on a silver platter and making the chaos strangely inert at times. It’s an entertaining diversion with an imeninently watchable cast, but the true story at its core deserves to be remembered and I don’t think this movie will be. ★★★