Movie Review: ‘The Gentleman’s War Office’
Cairo: Zizi Abdel Ghaffar
‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’ opens in theaters on April 19. Photo credit: Daniel Smith.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’, which opens in cinemas on Friday April 19, represents the latest genre leap from Guy Ritchie, who has shown notable flexibility of late after beginning his career with Cockney gangsters such as ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. ‘ and ‘Snatch’ before moving on to films like ‘Aladdin’ and his latest war film, ‘The Covenant’.
This new film certainly sees him channeling the tone of those initial efforts, but while that provides plenty of thrills and laughs to start with, halfway through he seems to decide that it’s not worth pursuing and turns into something more akin to ‘The bridge over the river’. Kwai’ (although it never reached the quality levels of that one).
Is ‘The Ministry of War among Gentlemen’ a fun mission?
Alan Ritchson in ‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
It’s something of a mystery when you have a movie that offers Henry Cavill in particular the most charismatically entertaining character he’s played in a long time (with, unlike ‘Argylle,’ the screen time to fully embrace it) but somehow way you lose confidence in the funny character. tone that is established from the beginning.
Admittedly, the theme of war, especially in a real-life context, is meant to be taken seriously, but that subsequent gear change sounds loudly halfway through the runtime. And yes, there are real people to consider (an end credits sequence includes images and summarized stories of the personalities after the moment of the mission portrayed), but the film’s two tones simply don’t mesh well enough to make the entire work.
‘The Ungentlemanly War Office’: Screenplay and Direction
Eiza González in ‘The Ministry of War of Gentlemen’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Here Ritchie adapts the book by Damien Lewis (not the actor, different spelling) with the help of Paul Tamasy and Arash Amel, adding his particular touch to the story of a group of real-life hidden heroes helped become the tide of World War II when things seemed bleaker for the Allied forces.
But, as we’ve said before in this review, the tone of the script dips somewhere around the point where the mission itself starts to go off the rails. It’s as if the characters ignored their colorful personalities and instead adopted much blander, more generic war movie archetypes. There are still moments of humor, and there are obviously moments where the darker tone requires a more serious approach. The film, however, does not fully recover.
In the director’s chair, Ritchie certainly brings a lot of his usual flair to proceedings and often brings out the best in his cast early on. The film also looks good, the budget clearly showing up on screen in scenes where the team takes on battleships or enters the port that is their main objective.
However, he still can’t stop his own film from becoming something much less effective in its final third. As the action ramps up (which has its own clockwork tension, to be sure), the compelling character work fades and some of the interest begins to wane.
‘The Ministry of War Knights’: Performances
Henry Cavill in ‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
This is without a doubt Henry Cavill’s film, and when allowed, he jumps in with both feet. His Gus March-Phillips is a cunning and sarcastic guy, very aware of his reputation even when he is willing to give his life in the service of his country. He doesn’t mind stealing cigarettes from his superiors or speaking ill of the Nazis who point guns at him (and why not?). At full power, he is the charismatic center of the film.
But he is ably supported by the ensemble, especially Alan Ritchson as the portly Anders Lassen. Like Cavill’s character, he is always ready to enjoy his missions and dishes out violence like a funnier ‘Reacher’.
Henry Golding has less to do as explosives expert Freddy Alvarez, but he has delivered some fun scenes and Golding makes the most of them. Meanwhile, Eiza González has a better character at first, but she is soon reduced to being a femme fatale or a damsel in distress.
Of the supporting cast, Babs Olusanmokun stands out as the university-educated man of letters who has emerged as the king of the mercenaries in the port where the team has to take down the submarine supply chain. It’s a winning performance and Olusanmokun makes it look effortless.
Elsewhere, Til Schweiger is suitably menacing/ridiculous as BDSM-obsessed Nazi commander Heinrich Luhr (one of the characters who feels very Ritchie-fied with his verbal diarrhea) and Cary Elwes is an “M”-raising “M.” eyebrows.
‘The Ministry of War among Gentlemen’: final reflections
Cary Elwes in ‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Ritchie’s latest release shows signs that the director is at war with himself more than the film itself is about the conflict. It’s like he started out intending to make a compelling action comedy before a part of him worried about what people would think about how historically accurate he might think.
The result is a compromised effort that falls between two stools, but has enough value to be worth highlighting. Especially if you like Henry Cavill sticking his tongue out while he fires a machine gun.
‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
“Discover the first special forces mission in history.”
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Based on recently declassified files from the British War Department and inspired by true events, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE is an action comedy that… Read the plot
What is the story of ‘The Ministry of War among Gentlemen’?
Based on recently declassified files from the British War Department and inspired by real events, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ is an action comedy that tells the story of the first special forces organization formed during the Second World War by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and a small group of military officers, including author Ian Fleming.
The top-secret combat unit, made up of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, undertakes a daring mission against the Nazis using totally unconventional and completely “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately, his bold approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern Black Ops warfare.
Who stars in ‘The Ungentlemanly War Office’?
- Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillipps
- Eiza González as Marjorie Stewart
- Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen
- Henry Golding as Freddy Alvarez
- Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard
- Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Henry Hayes
- Babs Olusanmokun as Mr. Heron
- Until Schweiger as Heinrich Luhr
- Henrique Zaga as Captain Binea
- Cary Elwes as Brigadier General Gubbins ‘M’
- Danny Sapani as Kambili Kalu
- Freddie Fox as Ian Fleming
Henry Cavill in ‘The War Office Ungentlemanly’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
