Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre

Highly disappointed with this movie. I don't know if I had too high of an expectation but the movie was a huge let down.

Acting was mediocre(except for Mr Grant), action was meaningless and dumb most of the time, comedic relief was slow and far between.

The story itself is really what drags this movie down tho, the premise is bad, unimaginative and full of plotholes. The scenario seems rushed, the dialog is abysmal and one liners are abundant and unfunny.

Filmography is ok-ish, there are a couple of good scenes, but most is outlandish but not in a good way.

All in all, this movie(franchise if they get away with it) is sadly just a huge cash grab with no real essence.

If it wasn't a Guy Ritchie nobody would even know it exists.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)

This is how I imagine the pitch for this film went.

Producer: "Hey Guy, we got a bunch of money from some brands and countries and they want us to make a commercial.... I mean a movie."

Guy: "Can we travel around the world, drink non stop and pretend to care about the whole thing?"

Producer: "Say no more!"

I love Guy Ritchie's films and will watch anything this man makes but Operation Fortune didn't even feel like it was made by Guy Ritchie. Frankly speaking, as I watched the first half, I was getting an impression that many of the scenes were filmed on a phone and then were stapled into the film. Second half does change for the better but it can't shake the sensation left by the half baked scenes in terms of visuals, audio and production.

The story is about a mercenary team that is hired to get a briefcase with some stolen weapon. To be honest, the plot felt like listening to a drunk guy telling a story as some scenes got a lot of attention, some didn't make any logical sense and everything was flashy and colorful. The worst part of it all was that there were no trademarks which Guy Ritchie is know for, such as snappy dialogue, sharp humor and interesting storytelling. The actors were likeable and had some level of charisma but most of the time it felt like watching a few buddies having fun instead of a dedicated cast making a film.

The film that kept coming to my mind the entire time was Grown Ups 2 where Adam Sandler took his friends for a nice vacation and accidentally made a movie at the same time. I wouldn't say I was infuriated by any element of Operation Fortune but after enjoying The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man, I expected Guy Ritchie to put in more effort. Action was decent and second half was kind of exciting but that's about it. Whether you like his work or not, I would recommend avoiding this film as there is no logic, no humor and most importantly no Guy Ritchiness whatsoever.

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While this isn't even a patch on Guy Ritchie's first couple of movies with Jason Statham, or his first movie with Hugh Grant, it's a pretty damn solid bit of fun with touches of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and at least one ever-so-slight nod to The Princess Bride.

The main cast are excellent - especially Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett (who it's great to see finally getting some consistent work the last few years), and Hugh Grant - and the henchmen are nice and henchy, giving Statham ample opportunity to flex his fighting muscles AND his banter muscles. The bad guys are kinda meh, though, and could have been at least a little less forgettable. Maybe.

Still, it's a great way to pass the time with a bowl of popcorn and a bag of Malteasers. You could easily do a lot worse.

See you next Tuesday.

Facing lengthy delays in release following the current war in the Ukraine, with key parts of the films plotline involving Ukrainian antagonists, Guy Ritchie's seemingly forgotten about Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre finds the colourful director back on familiar ground with an equally familiar partner in crime in the form of Jason Statham but while on paper everything here points to another The Gentleman/The Man from U. N. C. L. E like Ritchie venture, sadly Operation feels like nothing more than a pale imitation of the British filmmakers best work.

Delivering mild distractions and occasionally featuring the directional flair that made Ritchie one of the most interesting directors to establish himself in the late 90's and early 2000's, Operation is an odd effort from Ritchie who has all the tools at his disposal here to make sure this venture has the same pizazz and smarts as his newly minted cult favourite The Gentleman or his classics Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrell's but is unable to elevate Operation to anything more than a fast-moving escapade that fails to maximize its premise, locations, cast or budget allocation.

Following the escapades of Jason Statham's suavely named wine loving holiday taking Orson Fortune and his crack team of special agent operatives that includes Audrey Plaza's scene-stealing Sarah, Bugzy Malone's impeccably dressed JJ and Cary Elwes minder Nathan as the crew try and uncover what Hugh Grant's arms-dealing Greg Simmonds is up to on the black market with the team enlisting the help of Josh Hartnett's Hollywood heartthrob Danny Francesco to help out their cause, Operation is an over the top and globe-spanning action comedy that Ritchie on peak form could've turned into a crowd-pleasing and critically appreciated sleeper hit but here on finished product is likely to find his Wrath of Man follow up failing to inspire much interest in any market.

One glaring aspect of Operation's middling nature can be traced back to Operation's script that Ritchie worked on alongside Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, with the director's often whip-smart and often genuinely quotable snips and quips only rarely shining here in an otherwise undercooked piece of screenwriting that leaves little room for its talented actors to do much of note with their characters or their wisecracking and while Statham is typically Stathamly, outside of Plaza's off-kilter Sarah and Grant's scene chewing Simmonds, Operation fails to give us the type of memorable players we have previously found in Ritchie's best crime/action comedies.

In an age where it feels as though the big screen comedy is a dying breed, it would have been fantastic to see Operation find it's mojo in a much more notable way and while the film appears to come alive in a bigger way in its late act stages, for much of Operation's runtime you'll be hard pressed to find much worth getting excited about, a shame when you know the man behind the whole affair can often provide the type of fun and showmanship the film is too frequently lacking.

Final Say -

A watchable and mildly entertaining distraction, Operation Fortune feels like Ritchie on sleepwalking mode as the director fails to utilize all the tools at his disposal that could have easily lead to a much more memorable outing than what we get here.

2 1/2 expensive bottles of wine out of 5.

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

If you want some fun, light-hearted entertainment, and you enjoyed Bullet Train, then Operation Fortune is going to hit the spot.

The action is fast-paced, the characters breezy (Hugh Grant is having an utter blast) and the dialogue fun. I am going to be using "you don't have the bandwidth for that" a lot!

Statham leads a team of operatives to recover The Handle, a mysterious thing that everyone wants. But he is not the only team of agents after it, and the two teams getting in each other's way causes more problems than the international arms dealers that they are pursuing.

Throw in a narcissistic movie star and Cary Elwes (I am *so* glad that he is getting more big movie roles these days), and you have a movie that will have you grinning from start to finish.