The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)  

Review: written July 2024

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is an almost entirely fictionalised version of a real mission from WW II, in which Churchill’s answer to the debilitating effects of the German U-Boat blockade is to send a team of disreputables to a neutral country in East Africa – their mission, to destroy the supply boats keeping the U-Boats at sea. In almost Mission Impossible-esque style, the mission is unofficially sanctioned, and the band of misfits are told that in the event they are caught or captured by either side, they will be disavowed. So while Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes) and his Naval Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming (yes, that one) wait in London for news, a Swedish flagged trawler heads its way into some of the most outlandish (and fun!) war time antics I can remember seeing for a long time.

The cast, led by Henry Cavill as the team’s leader Gus March-Phillips, aided and abetted by Alan Ritchson (Reacher in the Amazon TV series), Alex Pettyfer and Henry Golding are in full stiff-upper-lip mode, clearly having a ball. On land there is just as much going on as Babs Olusanmokun (Star Trek Strange New Worlds) and Eiza González prepare the way with some skullduggery of their own. Their mission, to prepare for the team’s arrival, by attempting to divert the attention of the vicious Nazi (a larger than life Til Schweiger) in charge of operations supporting the supply vessels.

To say there is a laissez faire attitude to the death toll is an understatement, and everything from the action, colour palette and even costume design is amped up past the point of realism. That said, the whole thing just somehow manages to be that frequntly elusive thing in cinema – fun. The colour palette might be let loose, but that doesn’t mean it’s all really quite beautifully shot. Cavill plays the lead role with uninhibited gusto, and it’s clear the intention by all concerned is more to do with making you smile than to inform what actually happened.

If you are coming for a history lesson, or even coming just because you are a Guy Ritchie fan, you may well be disappointed. If you’re coming along for a thoroughly tongue in cheek romp of the most old-fashioned kind, then you will find this up your alley. And by old-fashioned I mean Nazis are bad, so it’s OK to mow them down with machine guns, and the war effort benefits from a ridiculously sexy dress. I had so much fun I found myself thinking back to Where Eagles Dare – similarly ridiculous at times, but also thoroughly entertaining. And while not up that level, particularly in the tension stakes, the comparison enough is high praise from me.