Movie Review

Guy Ritchie brings humor to history in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Alex Pettyfer and Henry Cavill in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Photo by Dan Smith for Lionsgate

The recent filmography of writer/director Guy Ritchie defies any kind of logic. He helmed the live-action remake of Aladdin in 2019, followed by a return to action with the trifecta of The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, and Operation Fortune: Ruse du Guerre. Then, out of nowhere, he delivered a compelling war movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal with The Covenant.

His latest, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is – bafflingly – a mixture between real history and the irreverent films for which he’s best known. Set in the early days of World War II, it centers on a group – led by Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) – of unruly but highly skilled soldiers (or spies?) recruited by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) and Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes) to carry out a secret mission to hamper the ever-expanding Nazis.

The group – which includes Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González), and Heron (Babs Olusanmokun), among others – is specifically sent to Africa to take out a ship that delivers supplies to the Germans’ fleet of U-boats. If they are able to cause such a disruption, the more likely it is that ships will be able to pass through the currently impenetrable line of Nazi submarines.

Lest you think Ritchie has made some kind of dramatic history film, fear not; the movie is more Inglorious Basterds than Saving Private Ryan. The jokes and one-liners fly fast and furious from the get-go in the script by Ritchie, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Arash Amel, making it clear that nothing in the film should be taken seriously. This, despite the fact that the film is based on the book Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a nonfiction account of acts of bravery by real British soldiers.

It’s safe to say, though, that almost nothing depicted in the film happened exactly as shown, as the group in the film racks up a body count that’s up there with the most violent action films. Ritchie also has his characters use a variety of retro-looking but likely not period-appropriate silenced guns to mow down hundreds of enemies. The light tone of the film overall makes the sequences fun to watch, and proves yet again that killing Nazis in a World War II film is one of the few things that can be done with impunity with little blowback.

The one thing Ritchie doesn’t quite achieve in his attempt at a Tarantino-type film is the same level of characterization. Gus, Marjorie, Anders, and certainly Churchill each have distinctive personalities that allow them to be interesting throughout, but those further down the list don’t stand out as much, feeling more like bodies to fill out the group than full-fledged members. Nazi Commander Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger) fulfills the main villain role without actually getting much to do.

Cavill, after getting lost in the weeds trying to make Superman work, has seemed to settle into himself as an actor. He’s got the looks, the charm, and the talent to be a leading man for a long time, and roles like this go a long way toward proving that. Ritchson is most notable for his physique, but he does relatively well acting-wise too. González and Olusanmokun make for a good team separated from the rest of the group, and it’s always nice to see Elwes hamming it up.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Ritchie doing what he does best, although it’s a style that’s still an acquired taste. History buffs will do well to leave their thinking hats at home and just enjoy this shoot-‘em-up that’s slightly awkwardly attached to the story of some real heroes.

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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare opens in theaters on April 18.

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Movie Review

Faces of Death returns with modern twist on cult horror film

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy - in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks - is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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