The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Billed as a true story about a secret British World War II organization; the Special Operations Executive. Founded by Winston Churchill, their irregular warfare against the Germans helped to change the course of the war, and gave birth to modern black operations.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 1, 2025
If the Inglourious Basterds got swole. This might be the most fun I’ve had with a Guy Ritchie movie in recent memory. My fam loved the first couple seasons of Reacher with Alan Ritchson (who my youngest son affectionately refers to as “that buff guy”.) He is excellently charismatic and he has a symbiotic vibe with the also muscular and charismatic Henry Cavill. Based on just one of the operations from the book of the same name, Guy Ritchie’s film essentially can be broken down into a series of plan and execution scenes. Plan the heist >> execute the heist >> wash, rinse, repeat. And execute, they do. Ritchson in particular is after Nazi hearts like Aldo Rain is scalps and he’s prepared to kill 100 different ways to get them. But you never for a moment feel like our “ministry” is ever in any danger. For the most part, they’re met without opposition. The team’s major setbacks comes from expository dialogue about fuses and a boats armored plating. The only real stakes that have any weight is the positioning of this operation as a pivotal turning point in the war. The low stakes kind of make this a breezy fun, watch, though, so it’s hard to knock it too much for that.
Last performance to mention is Eiza Gonzalez. She was excellent and absolutely stunning including a show stopping vocal performance. Ritchie isn’t exactly well known for his female characters and this film won’t exactly pass the Bechdel Test, either, but I thought her performance was one of the highlights.
I had a really good time. Light and breezy, nazi killing adventure that plays like a super violent heist flick. I would definitely watch again. The book sees this crew continue on to multiple other operations, and I would be up for seeing some of those adapted. Not sure how likely that is, though.