Movie review: 'Ungentlemanly Warfare' thrills with inglorious action

LOS ANGELES, April 16 (UPI) -- The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare turns a historical legend into a fun action caper. Inspired by true events, director Guy Ritchie makes a "men on a mission" movie with his modern flair.

Ian Fleming's military service was part of the author's legend, but thanks to some Winston Churchill files declassified in 2016, more information of Fleming's service now is available.

Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) leads a team of specialists that includes Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), Henry Hayes (Heron Fiennes Tiffin) and Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer).

In 1942, Churchill's brigadier (Cary Elwes) hired March-Phillips' team to sink the Italian ship Duchessa d'Aosta so it could not radio Allied movements to the Nazis. Fleming (Freddie Fox) is the liaison between the brigadier and March-Phillips' dirty quintet.

British agents Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) and Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) will go undercover with Nazi officers to obtain the intelligence Fleming's team needs.

The mission was called Operation Postmaster. On screen that means shooting, fighting and blowing stuff up.

March-Phillips' crew has fun shooting Nazis. They laugh and wag their tongues when they rid the world of a few more Nazis, and also walk away from an exploding camp as a group.

Ritchie balances the parallel stories of Stewart and March-Phillips well. Stewart's undercover espionage at an officers' party leads directly to information that will compromise March-Phillips' mission at sea and it is clear how the separate units are working together.

Historians can grade the accuracy of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Books about Fleming's involvement in Operation Postmaster were written as early as 2012.

Given how cleanly Ministry fits into the genre of wartime action and team mission movies, one imagines historical license taken. However, March-Phillips, Lassen, Appleyard and Stewart are based on historical figures and grants them each a worthwhile legend, especially since the other names are less familiar than Fleming's.

As the leader, March-Phillips is more stoic. By contrast, Lassen gets to be more flamboyant than Ritchson's Reacher character.

The film, and Gonzalez, definitely portray Stewart in the modern cinematic language of a tough, yet, seductive woman who holds her own against enemy combatants. Stewart's missions may have been more subtle than that, but it is fun to see Gonzalez do glamor and action.

At the very least, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare makes history fun. Whether it inspires viewers to learn more about Operation Postmaster, it at least informs them of the basics in a fun romp.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.