{"id":28399,"date":"2024-04-17T23:30:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T06:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28399"},"modified":"2024-04-17T23:30:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T06:30:05","slug":"the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-gets-the-job-done-effectively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28399","title":{"rendered":"THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE Gets the Job Done Effectively"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 120 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Lionsgate Films opens exclusively at\ntheaters on April 19th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few years, filmgoers have seen a great many\nwar films, often detailing harrowing battles and the resulting personal loss.\n\u201cThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare\u201d is a World War II feature inspired by\ntrue events. However, this one features a lighter touch that those we\u2019ve\nrecently become accustomed to. It\u2019s strange to describe this kind of a picture\nas, well, enjoyable, but the film\u2019s charismatic cast and humorous repartee\nsells the tone with aplomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With much of Europe under Nazi control and German U-boats\ncutting off the United Kingdom and Ireland from supply lines, many officials\nsuggest that Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) admit defeat and\nsurrender. Instead, he and Brigadier Grubbins \u2018M\u2019 (Carey Elwes) come up with a\nlast-ditch effort to turn the tide in the conflict. They recruit convict Gus\nMarch-Phillipps (Henry Cavill) to lead a covert operation on a Spanish island\noff the coast of Africa with a Nazi port. Their mission is to destroy essential\nGerman U-boat supplies including weapons and air filters. March-Phillipps\nagrees and recruits a team of unscrupulous associates like Anders Lassen (Alan\nRitchson), Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding)\nand Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer). Meanwhile, agent Majorie Stewart (Eiza\nBrigadier Grubbins) and local businessman Mr. Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) arrives\nearly onsite to distract and disarm Nazi official Heinrich Luhr (Til\nSchweiger).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even though the situations being presented involve\nlife-or-death scenarios, humor is emphasized from the opening scene onward.\nAnd, as March-Phillipps is taken into a British command center and begins\nstuffing his pockets with cigars (and anything else he can get his hands on)\nduring his initial interview, the cheeky tone is further emphasized. In fact,\nthe film very quickly comes across like a \u201cJames Bond\u201d picture (there is even\nan entertaining and reference to the author of the superspy) mixed with gun-toting\naction as the leads take down baddies in an occasionally gleeful manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, the excellent cast sells this exaggerated\nmaterial. Cavill delivers as March-Phillipps, a wisecracking leader who may be\nunderhanded and refuse to take orders from superiors, but possesses a clear\ndrive to help stop fascism. Some of his comebacks to superiors during lighter\nmoments are particularly funny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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His team members are broadly drawn, but they do provide\nlaughs playing off of each other.  Muscleman Lassen makes a notable\nimpression as a big physical threat and expert with a bow and arrow, doing away\nwith dozens of bad guys at a time in exaggerated ways. Additionally, brutal\nantagonist Luhr is imposing and unsettling, allowing the picture to maintain\ntension, especially during taut moments with spy Stewart as he attempts to get\na read on her intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite having a smaller budget than a big Bond movie, the\nset pieces are well-handled by director Guy Ritchie (\u201cThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.,\u201d\n\u201cThe Gentlemen,\u201d \u201cGuy Ritchie\u2019s The Covenant\u201d). The opening conflict in\nclose-quarters is dynamic, as is a raid on a German prison and the larger scale\nfinale on a dockyard. As mentioned, it is played in an old-fashioned manner\nwith the characters frequently cracking jokes as bodies fall around them, but\nthe charismatic performers pull it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are minor issues here and there. Curiously enough, the\nnature of the story keeps March-Phillipps and his team separate from the\nprimary villain. At times, it feels like there are two individual stories going\non (one with the team, and the other involving Stewart and Luhr) that only\nintersect very briefly towards the close. Regardless, it gels together well\nenough that this doesn\u2019t become a major sticking point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This movie may not be a war classic, but it is a fun\nthrowback to action pictures (and even espionage films) of the 1960s and 70s\nwhere sides were clearly defined and heroes would deliver swift justice to\nvillains. And the fact that it is loosely based on a real operation is an added\nplus, informing viewers about some previously unknown efforts of the Allied war\neffort. \u201cThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare\u201d isn\u2019t flawless, but it\ncompletes its mission effectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 120 minutes This feature from Lionsgate Films opens exclusively at theaters on April 19th. Over the last few years, filmgoers have seen a great many war films, often detailing harrowing battles and the resulting personal loss. \u201cThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare\u201d is a World War II feature inspired by true events. However, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,697,917,975,2137,3961,6773,7903,9076,9079,9127,12473,12474,17355,21606,21607,21608,21609,22880,23969,24483,24534],"class_list":["post-28399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-action","tag-alan-ritchson","tag-alex-pettyfer","tag-babs-olusanmokun","tag-cary-elwes","tag-eiza-brigadier-grubbins","tag-freddy-alvarez","tag-henry-cavill","tag-henry-golding","tag-hero-fiennes-tiffin","tag-lionsgate","tag-lionsgate-films","tag-rory-kinnear","tag-the-ministry-of-gentlemanly-warfare-review","tag-the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare","tag-the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-film-review","tag-the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-movie-review","tag-til-schweiger","tag-war-movie","tag-world-war-ii","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}