The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
That's right, Blake's writing a movie review!
I am a regular on my friend Dan’s podcast Movie and a Beer where we pair beers with movies. This past Saturday we watched The Ministry of ungentlemanly Warfare with some British beers. I was so entertained by the film and our discussion I decided to drop a review here. I also didn’t have anything else prepared because I forgot what day it was five days in a row.
Premise
The film follows a team of unsanctioned spies and fighters working to stop Germany’s submarine production during WWII. Based on a true story about a mission that was declassified in 2016, these soldiers and citizens take the initial orders from Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes) with the unofficial blessing of Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear). The movie follows Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) and his crew of roughnecks sailing into Fernando Po, a Spanish controlled collection of islands where the Germans are resupplying their U-Boats. While they sail in, Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) work the spy side of things by getting intel and working closely to Nazis while keeping their cover.
The movie was directed by Guy Ritchie, and it shows a matured Ritchie. I’ve been watching his movies since Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and his style is evident in here. You mainly see it in the personalities of the leads. Cavill plays a terrific Commanding Officer who plays fast and loose with the mission that doesn’t officially exist. In fact, the action scenes that follow March-Phillips and his crew feels like classic Ritchie. It’s my suspicion the other writers on the screenplay (Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Arash Amel) were pushing the more tense spy scenes on the train and on Fernando Po before the climactic battle towards the end of the film.
Trivia!
Til Scheiger plays a high ranking Nazi Heinrich Luhr. He also played Hans Landa, the anti Nazi German in Inglorious Basterds. Perfect for a double feature!
Review
I’m not a history buff but I don’t think they had massive silencers on the guns. WHich is fine, I’m not watching a Guy Ritchie movie for the historical accuracy. Like his Robin Hood movie, which I did not like as much as I wanted to, the movie just focuses on how badass the heroes are. Unlike his earlier work where mob bosses feed people to pigs, the leads never feel like they’re in real danger. Even Marjorie Stewart gets into a spot where I was genuinely worried about her character, then she’s fine the next scene.
That’s going to bring this from a great movie to a good movie. It’s still a fun watch, I highly recommend watching it with friends and if you’ve got the time, double featuring this with Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds as the second movie. It really shines on Cavill playing big and a little silly, and that’s what really makes the movie work. When he gets to go big, everyone wins. Whether March-Phillips is pretending to be Swedish during a Nazi led inspection of his boat, he’s pocketing cigars and using sleight of hand to snatch lighters from Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox), and strolling around a Nazi base wagging his tongue while firing rounds into the Third Reich, Cavill really makes you like this military prisoner turned CO. We don’t get as much of his crew, but the balance of his team going on rampages while Heron and Stewart build tension gathering intel behind enemy lines makes for a fun watch.
Trivia!
Ian Fleming was part of this operation, and he based the character James Bond on Gus March-Phillips.
Should You Watch?
Sure! It’s not an incredible film and I don’t know if I’d consider it required viewing, but it’s a fun movie with a cast that really make the movie. I genuinely might take my own advice and coordinate a double feature movie day with some friends. It’s probably streaming somewhere, go check it out!
One last plug! There’s a movie review site called letterboxd and I finally set up an account to track what I want to watch, what i’ve watched, and how I felt about whatever I’ve watched. Link is HERE to check it out.