Review-The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

A rollicking WWII action film that is more fun than it deserves to be

As I wrote in my preview for this week, I’ve had mixed opinions on several of Guy Ritchie’s last films. While I haven’t seen either Operation Fortune or The Covenant from last year, I thoroughly enjoyed 2019’s The Gentlemen and was disappointed by Jason Statham in Wrath of Man. But The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has renewed my faith in Ritchie as a director of enjoyable action flicks.

The crew of Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) and Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) take no prisoners.

The film doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as either The Gentleman or Wrath of Man, and that’s a good thing. Henry Cavill is in rare form as Gus March-Phillips, the leader of a group of WWII commandos tasked with destroying a freighter supplying the German U-boat fleet in the Atlantic. He recruits master fighter and archer Andres Lassen (Alan Ritchson), explosives expert Freddy Avarez (Henry Golding), intelligence specialist Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) and master sailor Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) to complete his mission as assigned by General ‘M’ (Cary Elwes) and some agent by the name of Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox).

As you can rightly guess if you’ve seen the trailer, or any other Guy Ritchie film, things don’t go exactly to plan and the group must fight their way into the remote African port where the enemy vessel is located, but they have help on the inside from local casino owner Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and actress turned special agent Marjorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez).

From the beginning, it’s wonderful to see that the actors are taking the film just as seriously as the director, and that is hardly at all. They are all having a blast playing caricatures of the standard action team members. It’s incredibly fun to watch Ritchson use a bow and arrow to take out ranks of Nazi soldiers and seamen armed with pistols and machine guns and his character’s high pitched voice is a fun departure from the stoic Reacher.

Gonzalez is fabulous in a film dominated by men and holds her own against both the members of the team, as well as the main German villain, Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger). While she is counted on to use her looks to attract his attention, she proves throughout that she has plenty of smarts and a quick wit to back that up. And she can handle just about any weapon she can get her hands on with deadly effect.