A review of Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs, Guy Ritchie’s new light action film

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs — is a Guy Ritchie movie. Having burst onto the British film scene in the late ’90s with such rough-and-tumble crime movies as «Cards, Money, Two Guns» and «Big Score», Ritchie has spent the last decade transforming himself into a craftsman director. That means his latest films, including «Gentlemen», «The Wrath of Man» and others lack the vigor and scrappy personality that once defined his work, but they’re also competently made and enjoyable to watch.

They’re not the only films that have been made by Ritchie, but they’re also competently made and enjoyable to watch.

There was once a time when such movies could be made by a wide variety of directors. These days, however, the number of directors working in Hollywood with an old-fashioned, time-honored skill set like Ritchie’s is woefully small. Few current mid-level directors know how to make action movies that breathe and move as well as he does, and even fewer know how to make it look as effortless as he does. That’s certainly true of «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs», an action comedy about World War II that doesn’t go as far as it could have, but lives up to its modest expectations.

An action comedy that doesn’t go as far as it could, but lives up to its modest expectations.

The approach to the plot of «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» is laid out in the very first scene: a Nazi naval officer boards a fishing boat on which he believes there are only two men — Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson) and Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), who claim they’re just two longtime friends on vacation. When a Nazi officer tries to intimidate them, they laugh in his face, and within seconds they easily and brutally massacre him and all his German soldiers on board. That scene succinctly defines what comes next in «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» — a thriller that isn’t so much interested in challenging its characters as in demonstrating time after time how good they are at their jobs.

They’re not so much interested in challenging their characters as they are in demonstrating how good they are at their jobs.

They’re not so good at their jobs.

The movie would be better if it did both, but it’s still fun to watch its characters masterfully attempt to undermine Nazi Germany’s power on European waters in the early 1940s by destroying a ship carrying a large cargo of U-boat supplies. To do this, Gus and his team must stealthily infiltrate a German-controlled port in North Africa. This task is much easier to accomplish, so Gus recruits Anders, Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), and Jeffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) to help him accomplish this. The team is also supported by Marjorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) and Mr. Heron (Babs Olusanmokun), a pair of undercover agents working in North Africa, as well as Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes), a high-ranking British official working directly under Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear).

Here, the team is supported by a pair of undercover agents working in North Africa, as well as Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes), a high-ranking British official working directly under Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear).

Based on a true story that was only recently declassified, the movie «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» judiciously reveals all the details about its characters and their main mission within the first 10 minutes. Thanks to James Herbert’s concise editing and screenplay (by —Paul Tamasi, Eric Johnson, Arash Amel and Richie), this ultra-efficient act allows the mid-sized blockbuster to devote most of its 120-minute running time to the heroes’ active pursuit of the most dangerous mission of their lives. While striving to make the heroes always seem cool and capable, the movie doesn’t always convince you that the tasks they face are as dangerous as they appear. Nevertheless, the plot unfolds at a consistent and fast pace that not only reflects but reinforces the unwavering confidence of the protagonists.

The movie’s plot is a fast-paced and consistent one, and it’s not just a movie that’s about the heroes’ unwavering confidence.

The movie refrains from developing most of its characters beyond their initial, oriented descriptions. Marjorie is given the most depth, as her attempts to deceive the local Nazi overseer provide an opportunity to explore her perspective as a Jewish woman on the war and her role in it. At times, the flatness of the other characters in the movie is glaring — particularly when we are expected to believe the supposed depth of the instant friendship between Gus and Kambili Kalu (Danny Sapani), a criminal-affiliated Kambili who agrees to help him and his team tackle their mission. Most of the time, however, the movie hangs on the charm of its performers, particularly Cavill and Ritchson, who bring an equally pitch-perfect and much-appreciated savage energy to their characters.

The film’s charms are the best part of the movie.

Luckily, the movie they’re in has enough fun to make up for its many shortcomings. The movie has a tendency to rush things along and let the characters go through without meeting any formidable resistance, but Ritchie’s ability to visually convey geography and scale remains the glue that holds all of his work together. The viewer is never once confused about the spatial, chronological, or narrative relationship to what’s happening on screen, and this constant level of directorial control keeps «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» from slipping into empty nonsense.

And that’s not the case.

The further his career progresses, the more Ritchie refines his unique style of muscular but economical filmmaking, and it’s especially evident here.

The more his career progresses, the more Ritchie refines his unique style of muscular but economical filmmaking, and it’s especially evident here.

On the whole, «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» fits in well with a number of Ritchie’s recent films. It’s lighter than perhaps it should have been, but not so weightless that it completely evaporates in the hands of its creators. Contrary to what the title promises, the movie could have been dirtier and more fully embraced the darkness lurking beneath its subject matter. Sometimes, though, all a movie needs to do to work — is to make you move in the same rhythm with it. The movie not only does that, but carries itself with enough style and enthusiasm to sway you to its side.

The movie does that, but it also carries itself with enough style and enthusiasm to sway you to its side.

The «Ministry of Ungentlemanly Affairs» is unlikely to be seen in theaters now, but the film should be available on MoviePoetry in May.