Opération Fortune : Ruse de guerre

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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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)

This would be a "straight to DVD" if not for Guy Ritchie. As a Ritchie-fan i was quite disappointed walking home from the theatre. I miss the dialogue Guy Ritchie is known for. The scence of black humor we know from other Guy Ritchie movies is also missing.

Hugh Grant saves the day with his performance, but we also see terrible acting from Josh Hartnett among others. Statham is Statham, nothing more, nothing less.

Don't spend your money watching this film in theatres. In a few weeks, it will probably be available on Netflix and as a tuesday evening timekiller it's probably worth watching. Be better next time Guy, we know that you could do better.

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.

This afternoon I spontaneously went to see "Operation Fortune" in the cinema. Here is my spoiler-free review:

This is once again a typical Guy Ritchie film. You just notice his signature, in a mostly positive sense.

The story is relatively simple, but in places it is told in an unnecessarily complicated way. I found that better in "The Gentlemen" and "Cash Truck". The former has a more complex story with some twists and turns and more suspense, but without being complicated. The latter, on the other hand, is kept very simple and is also told in a relatively straightforward manner. In "Operation Fortune", on the other hand, some dialogues are strung together very quickly, so that I sometimes couldn't keep up with the many names and changes of location. That was a bit too fast for me. I hardly had time to think and let my thoughts run free. I'm not quite sure, but in my memory two or three situations didn't make direct sense and it seemed illogical how the characters behaved in those situations. Emotions are also very rare here in the plot. In any case, I couldn't really sympathize.

This brings us to the characters: They all remain pretty pale and it's really only about the direct situational action. You don't really learn much more about any of the characters. They are quite stereotypical. Hugh Grant's character is the best, I think, because he plays his role very well and somehow he seems much more tangible and interesting than the others. In general, he steals the show when he's in the picture. Wonderful! Jason Statham plays his cool and tough agent character as usual. But that's all there is to it. It's also nice to see Josh Hartnett in a bigger movie again. His role is that of an actor and he is the one who always tries to be witty, but he is also the "coward" of the film. Then there is Aubrey Plaza as Sarah Fidel. She is the intelligent one of the agent troop and shows the men again and again that she can do more than they give her credit for. Finally, there is Bugzy Malone as JJ Davies. He is also an agent and he is the quiet type and sniper who acts more from ambush. But he also remains very pale. All in all, the characters don't develop much and everyone plays his role here and remains trapped in this corset from beginning to end without breaking out of it, which is kind of a pity because I couldn't build up an emotional connection to any of the characters.

The action scenes are solid, but often they are hardly shown, as if there had been a lack of budget. But the hand-to-hand fights with Jason Statham are fun as always, even if he's a bit too good for me, because he never really gets hit himself. He can have a few more weaknesses.

The CGI effects are good and if I'm not mistaken, many scenes were shot directly on real locations, which I liked.

The cinematography is solid, the cuts are also okay and didn't stand out to me either positively or negatively.

The humor in the film is well measured and mostly manifests itself in dry sarcasm and a few quips, which I liked.

The music didn't strike me as particularly positive or negative.

Overall, "Operation Fortune" is a solid, good-looking action-agent thriller that follows in the footsteps of Mission: Impossible, but can never reach its class. A viewing is worthwhile, however, and you will definitely get your money's worth, if you don't set your expectations too high. However, you shouldn't expect the class and style of "The Gentlemen". "Operation Fortune" will certainly not stay in my memory for a very long time. But since I was well entertained and could easily overlook the weaknesses, I award a solid

7/10 points - Low rewatch value.