I am generally a fan of Guy Ritchie’s films. His dialogue is clever, his action is great and his scripts are usually tight. This is a film that does not have a tight script, likely due to it being written by 4 people but the film itself is still a lot of fun and worth checking out if you are looking for a fun rental.
The film was directed by Guy Ritchie who co-wrote the film with Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Arash Amel and based on the book Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by
The story follows the mission Operation Postmaster, an off the books attempt to bring down the supplying of Nazi U-Boats during World War 2.
SPOILERS ahead
The Pros:
The Action – This is a Guy Ritchie film and looks it. The action is all solid, especially the final action set piece at the end where the mission is going sideways as the team attempts to steal the supply boat as the Nazi’s become aware of the mission. Outside of this final action set piece there is great rising action and the competency of our heroes are established in the introduction when their fishing boat is boarded by Nazi sailors.
The Characters and Cast – I really enjoyed all the cast and characters. You have Rory Kinnear as Churchill, you have Cary Elwes as Brigidier Gubbins / “M,” you have Eiza Gonzalez as an undercover agent Marjorie Stewart infiltrating Nazi leadership on the Island of Fernando Po where the resupplying is happening. You have Richard Heron who runs the club on Fernando Po to cause the distraction played by Babs Olusanmoken, you have the team traveling to Fernando Po with Henry Cavill as the leader Gus March-Phillips, Alan Ritchson as the ruthless Dane Anders Lassen, as well as Graham Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding) as they rescue the planner Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) from the Gestapo on their way to Fernando Po. Seeing their communication and adaptation when they have to change initial plans is great and the cast is all memorable as their characters. Ian Fleming played by Freddie Fox is also working on the intelligence side of events as this mission was part of the inspiration for the James Bond novels.
The Mission – The mission initially involves sinking the Italian resupply ship and tugboats but changes to stealing all the boats when they found out the Nazis have reinforced the ships. Seeing how decisions and communications go down between the members of the team and leadership keeps the film from ever dragging.
The Cons:
The Script – The script is all tell with very little show. This brings it down as we are largely told backstories rather than seeing them. The script was written by a writing team of 4 and it shows. It needed more focus and vision in order to make this enjoyable film good or great.
This is competently made action film that any fan of Guy Ritchie’s films will more than likely enjoy. The biggest problem is the writing and tell over show that keeps it from being good or great but it is still worth renting as the cast is great, the mission is fun and the characters are all intriguing.
Final Score: 7 / 10 Solidly enjoyable but isn’t elevated in any way.
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