Film Review: THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (2024): Guy Ritchie Delivers a Well-Cast and Wildly Entertaining WWII Action Picture

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Review

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Guy Ritchie, written by Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Arash Amel and starring Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Eiza González, Babs Olusanmokun, Cary Elwes, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Henry Golding, Rory Kinnear, Til Schweiger, Freddie Fox, James Wilby, Henrique Zaga, Danny Sapani, Matthew Hawksley, Simon Paisley Day, Mark Oosterveen and Victor Oshin.

Guy Ritchie’s latest, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is a relentlessly entertaining WWII action picture centered on a group of characters who are well-assembled to tell a fascinating story. If Ritchie’s film isn’t his best work, it’s his most expertly crafted picture to date with so many characters interspersed in its story line that a scorecard could help audiences keep track of who’s who. There’s a lot of things going on in the new picture and the chosen cast is more than up to the task of offering audiences colorful characters with a lot of personality.

Former Man of Steel, Henry Cavill, stars in Ritchie’s movie as Gus March-Phillipps who is enlisted into a mission, “Operation Postmaster,” by Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear). Gus joins forces with Freddy (Henry Golding), Henry (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Geoffrey (Alex Pettyfer) and Anders (the terrific Alan Ritchson) to take on the Nazis. As the film opens, the Nazis board a boat on which are heroes are sailing. After being intimidated by a key Nazi, our heroes take out the garbage, so to say, by shooting them dead and tossing some of their bodies into the water. it’s a splendid way to kick start the movie. Then, the film flashes back in time a bit to show how the action arrived at that point.

The cast assembled for the movie is impressive to say the least. Eiza González and Babs Olusanmokun are two of the best supporting players in the film. González plays Marjorie Stewart who, alongside Heron (Olusanmokun), travels by train to get to a Nazi supply ship to put a stop to the Nazis’ evil plans. Marjorie gets close to one of the lead Nazis, Luhr (the menacing Til Schweiger), in an effort to secretly thwart the baddies’ operation. In a great scene, Heron takes out some Nazis who catch him planting a device. Heron runs out of bullets when confronted with the last Nazi but still manages to stab him in a terrifically rendered action scene.

The luminous González all but steals the movie right out from under the men in the cast as she performs the song, “Mack the Knife” in a key moment that is surely one of the highlights of a picture that is chock full of action and daring escapes. Schweiger’s intense performance as the key heavy here similarly carries a lot of the weight of the movie as well. Cary Elwes is also on board as one of the leaders of Operation Postmaster and Freddie Fox serves as none other than Ian Fleming, the eventual creator of the James Bond character. Both Elwes and Fox create distinct characterizations that add to the success that Ritchie’s movie ultimately is.

Don’t underestimate the star power of Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson who get to chew scenery here and have a blast on screen alongside the other members of the crew assembled to take out the Nazis. Of course, Cavill’s Gus has a past of being a troublemaker and will redeem himself in, perhaps, the most satisfying way for a character such as Gus. Ritchson goes for broke in the actor’s most enjoyable screen work to date. He’s going to get more action roles in the future, judging from the success of this performance.

You don’t have to know too much of the history of WWII to enjoy the movie but, of course, a basic knowledge of the events that occurred during the time period the film is set would help. Regardless, Ritchie knows how to make an action movie that keeps the adrenaline pumping and doesn’t disappoint here. There are plenty of suspenseful escape scenes even if the outcome of the sequences usually seems pretty certain. Our heroes are so heroic that their fates are, for the most part, not in much doubt.

Still, Ritchie delivers and then some. This film under-uses Henry Golding, however, whose role only works occasionally when contrasted to the more showy parts of some of the other cast members. There could have been more splashy action in the scenes with Golding especially given the actor’s newfound calling as an action hero in the G.I. Joe spin-off, Snake Eyes.

Another notable performance is that of Rory Kinnear as Winston Churchill. Kinnear is an actor who can never be underestimated and he manages to make his role as Churchill a significant one when it could have been a small part in a movie that didn’t want to dig deeper into the politics behind the action.

More must be said of González’s tremendously impressive performance which could make her a big star if she’s not one already. In an occasionally complicated plot, she’s a breath of fresh air and offers the audience the type of role that stands out from all the others in the movie. González’s performance offers some intelligence behind the action and keeps the movie from feeling like the basic action picture it could have become if González wasn’t so strong in her role.

As far as Guy Ritchie’s recent work goes, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has the filmmaker working up to the standards we know the acclaimed director is capable of. It’s an enjoyable movie that the director can add to an already impressive body of work. Ritchie always does action like no other director can and this one is very distinct in terms of displaying the style the director is well-known for. See it.

Rating: 7.5/10

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