But The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare sinks into blood and slapstick

Guy Ritchie is a pathetic Tarantino copy. At least that is the opinion of many critics of the British director, who has just released the new war film action The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare can be seen on Amazon Prime Video. I don’t care about such mockery. Ever since the trailer, I’ve been looking forward to Ritchie’s adventure, which crosses James Bond with Inglourious Basterds.

And, to make it clear right away: The action film with Henry Cavill is not a flop. Fans of Ritchie’s The Gentlemen or Operation Fortune will probably love it. But behind the facade this time there is actually a Tarantino clone, which looks pretty pale next to the original.

This is what The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is about

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare revolves around an unconventional fighting force, led by prisoner Gus March-Philips (Cavill), who in 1941 blow up a ship on the west coast of Africa The order comes from Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) personally. He wants to suspend the Nazi submarine war so that the USA can send troops to Europe.

Watch the trailer for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare here:

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is the inspiration here, it seems. And 007 franchise The film even has direct references: Bond creator Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox) is one of March-Philips’ clients. Cavill’s character later served as inspiration for the real Fleming for his agent icon.

At its core, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is based on a true story: In 1942, British commandos actually stole several supply ships from a port under 007-worthy circumstances. The operation later became known as Operation Postmaster.

Guy Ritchie’s Bond imitation is Inglourious Basterds as a snack

Henry Cavill’s war adventure apparently has everything a Guy Ritchie fan could wish for: iconic characters, flippant sayings, lots of violence and a colorful look. It’s Inglourious Basterds as a snack. For better or for worse.

The parallels to Tarantino’s war film are manifold. In addition to the obvious story parallels, both directors use similar scenes: both films begin with a game of hide-and-seek, a sadistic Nazi and a threatening conversation that culminates in an outbreak of violence.

But even on the surface, differences to the 2009 film become apparent. And with them, weaknesses. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is released here on Amazon Prime, but is reminiscent of the classic Netflix look: shots often look empty, oversaturated and artificial. Some images look like an advert that mimics Inglourious Basterds. As if Cavill were about to turn to the camera and say: “Kill Nazis without armpit sweat: with Axe Body Spray.“

Henry Cavill, Til Schweiger and a Dune star save the film

As the film progresses, however, the look is saved by more opulent sets and successful compositions. The characters pose a bigger problem. It will come as no surprise that Cavill and his colleagues such as Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson) and Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) are caricatures. But they are also sketches. Unfinished, one-sided, and not particularly plastic.

Here too, Cavill, but above all Dune star Babs Olusanmokun and even Til Schweiger, are able to turn things around. Olusanmokun is simply a discovery. His hoarse voice and his calm movements give his character, actually just a casino owner who works for him, so much dignity that he almost falls out of the film. He seems like caviar in a steak restaurant. Schweiger is so over the top as psycho-Nazi Heinrich Luhr, that it’s simply fun to watch his madness.

Guy Ritchie makes a mistake on the Tarantino path

To ensure that the whole thing isn’t just a 120-minute pastime, however, it needs a direction. A statement. Something that makes Ungentlemanly Warfare as action-packed and unique as Snatch – Pigs and Diamonds among gangster comedies.

And this is where Ritchie falls short. Because where Tarantino ironically breaks up the extremely iconic moments of his film, such as when the terrifying figure Hans Landa barges into one of the best conversation scenes of the last 25 years with a gigantic pipe, Ritchie either remains deadly serious or opts for slapstick.

In the former case it seems pubertal, as if every sentence uttered by the characters was formulated as a punch line and left no room for comprehensible dialogue. It is annoying when protagonists constantly push themselves to the forefront with their callousness.

The action in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is close to the glorification of violence

In the second case, Ritchie slides into the glorification of violence. Tarantino’s Basterds uses such explicit violence that it virtually liberates the morals of the audience: Here, a director lives out a dream whose streams of blood separate him from the sad reality. It’s the same with Hitler’s death. And Sharon Tate’s survival. Ritchie stages it differently.

Cavill and his men are having fun to shoot unsuspecting soldiers in the back. Some killing scenes seem like a sporting competition between friends. Fun and games with the human body.

Of course, their opponents are the soldiers of Nazi Germany, closer to absolute evil than almost any other faction in film history. When Cavill’s character shoots two unarmed men in front of his comrades to perform a trick and Ritchie stages it as a gag, I still find it tasteless.

I feel the same way about Lassen’s tendency to to cut out the hearts. If only Ritchie would comment on it in more detail! But the disemboweling of bodies has the same status as a shallow sitcom joke.

Guy Ritchie’s Tarantino Bond is entertaining, but not one of his best films

If The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare really wants to emulate Inglourious Basterds, Ritchie is emphasizing the wrong aspects. It’s as if he’s boiling down the Tarantino concept to hard violence, quirky characters and iconic dialogue. But the farmer from the Inglourious Basterds prologue is really scared to death. The most impressive Pulp Fiction scene is a disturbing rape, iconic dialogue or not. And the ear scene in Reservoir Dogs is not amusing, it is tormenting.

So, more than 20 years after his debut, has Guy Ritchie become what his critics have always accused him of being? No. There are simply too many good ideas in his new film for that. A costume party where Schweiger’s character can be seen as Caesar. Olusanmokun’s peace of mind. Ritchson’s Swede, as bloodthirsty as he may be, is a very entertaining mixture of muscle and joker.

Guy Ritchie has also shown how far he can distance himself from the old accusations of copying, for example with Cash Truck or The Covenant. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare basically shows exactly that: Ritchie is not a Tarantino. He doesn’t need to be.