The British military recruits a small group of highly skilled soldiers to strike against German forces behind enemy lines during World War II. Guy Ritchie is one of those directors with a very distinct style and wide range of films that are either loved or hated depending upon the taste of individual viewers. Sometimes he will crank out a total banger like Snatch and Sherlock Holmes, or crap out a complete dud like that King Arthur movie. Being a very hit or miss director, I would personally label The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare as somewhere in the middle, neither a complete hit, nor a complete miss. Firstly, I will talk about what works in this movie, as there is quite a lot to like. Henry Cavill effortlessly sleepwalks through the entire movie as this British assassin sporting a twirly mustache. Cavill exudes the lax macho type with laid back ease, clearly having a ton of fun in this role. Alan Ritchson basically plays a full on lunatic killing machine and the dark humor during his stand out moments are perhaps when the film is at its most entertaining. I would say just about everyone does a good job, with Babs Olusanmokun as Heron and Eiza González as the seductive Marjorie. The film has incredible production value that convincingly captures a 1944 European setting and it’s effectively matched by Christopher Benstead’s orchestral and vocals driven score. The costume design is impeccable and the cinematography is serviceable, but more bland than Ritchie’s other movies.
So what’s missing here? Why do I feel like there is something this movie is lacking? Well, Ritchie is clearly trying to make this movie his version of Inglorious Bastards, with many Tarantino-like stylistic choices and similar scenarios that we have seen before in fictional WWII related films. A gorgeous woman seduces a high ranking Nazi official, they have a growing trust in their relationship, and eventually the Nazi official becomes wise to the woman’s games. All of that is fine and interesting to me, but the real issue this film has is its lack of suspense and tension. The outcomes of these situations can be predicted very early on and unfortunately, Ritchie doesn’t give the audience a real reason to feel a sense of urgency. There is also a severe lack of backstory for the main characters in which we only get a couple lines of dialogue explaining who they are, but we are never shown, aside from some brief exposition dialogue. My main issue here is the villain Heinrich Luhr, played by Til Schweiger. The problem isn’t his performance, because Til does a great job playing this sinister Nazi official, but rather the writing of his character. He is nothing more than a generic evil Nazi villain who you’ve seen portrayed a million times before and doesn’t get enough of a distinct characterization to make him feel more threatening.
It may sound like I’m knocking this movie a lot, but I don’t think it’s all that bad, more so a mixed bag. While I had a lot of fun watching Cavill and Ritchson gleefully dispatch of Nazis (because who doesn’t love watching Nazis get killed in bloody ways?), I found there to be a noticeable lack of substance in the characters, thus knocking what should be a wildly entertaining ride, to a mildly diverting affair. Like I said, of course it’s fun watching Nazis get dispatched in brutal ways, there’s no arguing that. It’s just that the lack of urgency to the action makes the outcomes fairly predictable, with a full guarantee of the good guys winning. Still, despite my personal grade I’m giving the movie, I would recommend this is best watched as a rainy day matinee viewing. If you like movies based on actual events from WWII with a stylistic touch, there are definitely far worse attempts than this and I’d say I would recommend this as a rental. I guess my expectations were too high and I was hoping this would be Ritchie’s big blockbuster comeback. Overall, where The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare sports a lovably carefree Henry Cavill, some hilariously quirky moments particularly with Henry Golding and a psychotic Alan Ritchson, entertaining sequence of Nazis being slayed, Guy Ritchie’s WWII flick is unfortunately bogged down to a mildly fun if disposable experience due to its undercooked characters, over abundance of predictable clichés, and a noticeable lack of tension filled urgency. Mixed bag for me.
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