TL;DR – It never reaches the heights it is aiming for, but it is deeply entertaining in parts.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre Review –

I love spy films. I like it when they play them seriously and when they are more whimsical. When it comes to Guy Ritchie, you could get either or both. Add a cast you know can deliver and even a comeback or two, and you have a premise I want to see.

So to set the scene, it is a lovely Sunday morning when Nathan (Cary Elwes) is summoned to the intelligence headquarters in London by Knighton (Eddie Marsan). For you see, something just got robbed from a facility in Odessa. What no one knows, but the wrong people are interested in it, so that makes it a top target. Knowing traditional intelligence apparatuses would be too slow, they bring in the team that you need for cases like this, led by Orson Fortune (Jason Statham), who is now rudely having his Moroccan holiday interrupted, and worse, they will need the famous movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to pull it off.

What I think this film does exceptionally well is set the tone for everything that will follow. Sometimes, it is the small things like how the sound of footsteps walking on the tiles becomes integrated into the musical score. The whole opening sequence in Madrid perfectly sets up the film’s vibe, where complete professionalism slaps up against competing interests that torpedo every moment. I will say that this is probably one of Guy Ritchie’s more conservative films, but you can still see his flourishes in places.    

The cast is also a strength for most of the film. Jason Statham is playing the same character he always plays, but you know that going in. Hugh Grant has entered his chewing all the scenery phase of his career, and much like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, it works like a charm. Cary Elwes is the great spy boss, which is why they also got him to play one in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, but he has a lot more to do here. I am not sure Aubrey Plaza and Jason Statham worked as a pair in the film, but it was a delight when they were working on their own thing.

While the narrative will not win any awards for originality, the mystery of being an AI that everyone is after is an old hat now. I wish they had made more of the actor going undercover as himself, but when they focus on that, we get some of the film’s best parts, and Josh Hartnett works well in this role. There is a fine line between competing mysteries and being messy, and I am not sure that the film stayed out of the mess, but when it is engaging, it works so well. I liked how they worked out the ending of the film, but I think we have reached a point where it is not that interesting that Jason Statham never takes a punch. There is just no tension or flow to the character when the worst thing that happened is he had to run up some stairs once.

In the end, do we recommend Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre? Well, this is a film that has big dad-film energy. It is not the best example of that film, but it is still quite entertaining in places when all the different parts click together. If you liked Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, we would recommend to you The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
Directed by – Guy Ritchie
Written by – Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies & Guy Ritchie
Music by – Christopher Benstead
Cinematography by – Alan Stewart
Edited by – James Herbert
Production/Distribution Companies – Miramax, Lionsgate, STXinternational & Amazon Prime Video
Starring – Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett, Bugzy Malone, Eddie Marsan, Peter Ferdinando, Lourdes Faberes, Max Beesley, Eugenia Kuzmina, Bestemsu Özdemir, Kaan Urgancıoğlu, Tom Rosenthal, Oliver Maltman,
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: R; Germany: 16; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 15; United States: PG-13