Why “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” feels like Guy Ritchie is burning out

I liked Guy Ritchie more when I hadn’t seen more of his movies.

Quick Wit Runs out Quick

I loved his earlier films, where Ritchie was allowed to excel and toy around with the realm he was most comfortable in- but before he lost all his creativity in that realm. His singular venture outside of the heist genre prior to this film in King Arthur was poorly received due to its impossibly atrocious pacing, and overall uninteresting story. Ritchie then went on to go back to heists for a second, and I decently liked The Gentlemen, even though, again, it was derivative of his own previous works.

Then came this film. A retelling of one of many heroic, otherworldly tales of Allied servicemen fighting the Nazis. Ritchie manages to warp the otherwise straightforward tale using his classic wiles, as the Henry Caville-lead cast is, in fact, embarking on a heist-like mission to sabotage some Nazi thing, while facing down some super-evil Nazi bad guy.

As a disclaimer, my apathetic opinion of the Nazis in Ritche’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is not due to my apathetic opinion on Nazis. I like when Nazis are skewered in the face with a bow and arrow at point-blank range. Fuck yeah. But my prose merely reflects my emotions towards how much I gave a shit about this movie.

Ministry of Meh

It’s not a bad movie. It’s just not a particularly interesting movie. There’s two action sets, one of which has the poor luck of happening at night time, a decent amount of wordplay and other oral buffoonery that Ritchie’s scripts are famous for, but the direction is relatively tame. The editing isn’t as tight or snappy as you’d expect, and as a result, the film feels largely forgettable and dull.

The charm of this film mainly lies in its cast. Caville, along with Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, and others, creates a quirky group. While they lack chemistry, I still enjoyed their individual performances enough to chuckle.

In all, I do think there’s some people who’d enjoy this film as a run-of-the-mill action movie. Like, a dumber, less complex version of Inglorious Basterds. Like a slightly better version of The Kingsmen. So, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a solid

YMMV

I feel I should warn you, in that the action isn’t all that great. It’s fine, but it’s not remarkable. Guy Ritchie isn’t known for how cool the action can be in his movies, but we do get a classic Ritchie ‘damsel in distress’ moment, however fleeting. This movie doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test, in case you’re wondering.

Wondering how my rating system works? Let me explain!