The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a Guy Ritchie movie on medication

Henry Cavill is one of my favourite actors and Guy Ritchie one of my favourite directors, so you’d think I would book a ticket on the first showing to see The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, but that didn’t happen. The time the movie came out in 2024 I was pretty busy with other stuff and, in addition to that, the trailer didn’t really grab me like those of previous Guy Ritchie movies. Nevertheless, I recently found myself with more time on my hands and decided to finally see the movie on Prime Video.

The movie takes places in 1941, where England is struggling to standing to stand its ground against Germany during WWII. One of the reasons being that the USA cannot send aid to England as the north Atlantic oceans are patrolled by U-boats, German submarines that sink any ship attempting to cross. England knows it cannot take on the U-boats, so a plan is made to destroy the ships that are responsible for supplying and maintaining these submarines. However, these ships are stationed in a Spanish controlled port, hence the mission will be unofficial, undercover, and off the books. This type of mission requires a specific group of people, ones who have no problem going against orders, but who are also competent and can be trusted to get the job done. Gus Phillips, played by Henry Cavill, will be the leader of the team, and he hand picks his team to make sure he can rely on his companions and doesn’t have to be held back by them. But the team lacks its master planner, who is held in a German post on the way. So the team must retrieve him before making definite plans to take down the target ships. Meanwhile, an undercover duo are already in the port to make sure that the ships will be there when the other team arrives, but they will have to figure out a way to keep Heinrich Luhr, a German officer poster there, busy and come up with a plan to even take him out.

Guy Ritchie is a director that you sort of know what to expect of his movie: eccentric and diverse characters, witty writing, cool cinematography, and a story often told in an energetic way with twists and surprises throughout. These are what set his movies apart, his signature qualities. These qualities are not here really, even if they are, they seem to be toned down. It is a little jarring even, you see glimpses of the typical Guy Ritchie things but it seems that they are being held back. It is a little hard to describe as it something that involves every aspect of the movie.

The main characters are all charismatic in their own and quirky and different, but I wasn’t really invested in them or their mission. I kept asking to myself “what is different here? Why don’t I care about these characters like I do in other Guy movies?”. You see, this movie is based on real events and real people, and I think that clashes with Guy Ritchie’s style. He tries to incorporate the wittiness and charisma, but he must still keep them grounded. He gives each character a trait and each of them are their own character and different, but are not likeable or interesting enough to get you hooked. Come to think of it, some characters don’t even have their own thing. To put it better, it is established that a character is good at something and that is their thing, but then you watch as other characters do that thing as well, equally as good. Then, there is the “antagonist” of the movie, Luhr played by Till Schweiger. This guy doesn’t do anything in the movie, all he does is talk and …… that’s it. You know what he is, he is a Temu Hans Landa. There is a scene at the beginning of the movie that tries to establish him as a real danger and threat, and then his dialogue with other characters during the movie is meant to portray him as a smart villain that is not to be taken lightly. These are the intents, but they are not done very well or convincingly. The guy has no charisma, so he doesn’t even get to be that likeable villain.

This doesn’t help the story or plot. There are some twist in the story and unforeseen obstacles during the mission, but because we don’t really care about the characters, these twists and obstacles lack impact. Furthermore, despite these twists, the story feels predictable, there is no surprise. Again because it is based on a true story, there is no real out of nowhere, creative twists. The twists that are there you can, in some way, see coming. Plus the story is not told in any special way, it is fairly linear, there are no misdirects or anything else. At least the movie has a good pace. There is no real down time where nothing is happening and you would get bored. Things are always happening and the plot moves forward with almost all scenes. The story might not be memorable, but at least it’s not boring.

While the story and it beats may lack impact, do the action and cinematography elevate the experience? No. There are some action sequences and choreographies that stand out, specifically those involving Lassen, Alan Ritchson’s character who sort of specializes in melee combat. Other than though, the action is the typical gun shooting and explosives. Same can be said for the cinematography, typical and safe. There are no cool shots or camera movements.

So far I feel like I’ve set a negative tone for the movie. Let me clarify, the movie is not bad. It is just fine. A decently entertaining action movie, that’s all it is. It’s not a problem when a movie doesn’t do anything crazy and plays things safe. The problem is that it being a Guy Ritchie movie, I expected more. If you went into this movie without knowing the director, I’m not sure you’d be able to guess it was Guy Ritchie behind this movie. So if you come into the movie expecting a little entertainment and something to pass the time with, it works in that way and serves its purpose. On the other hand, if you are familiar with Guy Ritchie and are expecting another highly entertaining and unique feeling movie, you might be disappointed.