Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, 2023.
Directed by Guy Ritchie.
Starring Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone, Peter Ferdinando, Eddie Marsan, Lourdes Faberes, Max Beesley, Sam Douglas, Aksel Üstün, Oliver Maltman, Ergun Kuyucu, Eugenia Kuzmina, Sinan Yildiz, Vincent Wang, Tim Seyfi, Antonio Bustorff, Amy Jackson, Conor MacNeill, Bestemsu Özdemir, and Kaan Urgancıoğlu.
SYNOPSIS:
Special agent Orson Fortune and his team of operatives recruit one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars to help them on an undercover mission when the sale of a deadly new weapons technology threatens to disrupt the world order.
The style and panache of Guy Ritchie are certainly here in Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, although it feels subdued and neutered, as if it’s afraid to embrace his typical hyperactive energy and the lunacy of this plot. Similarly, the comedy doesn’t always land (at one point, mission instructions are communicated with sexual undertones, coming across as cheap and juvenile), and even with card faces throughout exotic locales and Jason Statham front and center, there is also not much memorable about the action sequences.
It’s as if Guy Ritchie (writing the screenplay alongside Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies) is resisting every urge to lean into his kinetic distinctiveness, leaving behind a half-baked and mediocre crime actioner about a dangerous technological weapon potentially falling into the wrong hands.
There’s also something bizarre about the presentation of Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, which is technically rated R but feels PG-13 entirely. The entire plot sounds like it should be one of Guy Ritchie’s F-bomb-laced, violence-fueled flicks, and while there is plenty of brutality on screen, it is shockingly sanitized (generic henchmen are stabbed in the neck only for no blood to flow). Whether or not this was done for sensitivity purposes (apparently, several cuts were made regarding the situation in Ukraine since the plot does feature Ukrainian mobsters) is not something I could tell you, but it is confounding that this particular movie is so clean.
Fortunately, Jason Statham busting heads (especially in confined spaces such as a claustrophobia-inducing elevator fight) doesn’t necessarily need gallons of blood to excite, but as special agent Orson Fortune (a name I wish I were making up), he doesn’t get to show much personality or character. He is called in by his handler Nathan (Cary Elwes), to investigate what was stolen from a high-grade facility, why it was stolen, who is trying to broker a deal, and the buyer’s identity.
Naturally, Orson Fortune is assigned a team, although teammates he is unfamiliar with as reliable special agent Mike (Peter Ferdinando) is currently on another mission (surprising no one, he is working the same mission but for a different agency, causing the two teams to clash throughout the mayhem).
As for Orson Fortune’s (yes, I’m typing out the full name every time to drive home how ridiculous a name that sounds) team, they amount to bland archetypes played by an otherwise likable ensemble that got coaxed into this mixed bag by Guy Ritchie’s directorial pedigree. Aubrey Plaza is the tech expert that doubles as a seductive and flirtatious double agent that can get in close to unsuspecting men willing to spill their secrets and dirty business, and Bugzy Malone plays a sniper providing backup during the numerous dangerous encounters Orson Fortune finds himself in.
The refreshing part of the team comes from Josh Hartnett’s famous movie star Danny Francesco, brought in to act and cause a diversion, as the seller, Hugh Grant’s Greg Simmonds, is an easily distracted superfan.
Disappointingly, Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre doesn’t even have much fun imagining a Hollywood star finding himself in an arms race waged through espionage. The characters are defined by their skill sets, often given lackluster banter that rarely elicits a laugh. However, it is tolerable to watch thanks to the globetrotting (including locales like Morocco) and lavish production designs fixated on expensive art galleries.
Admittedly, the second half becomes more intriguing once the severity and implications of the weapon are laid out, but the plotting is still dry. It’s also difficult to muster up fervent disdain for Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre since it mostly still allows Jason Statham to be an action star, although said action evaporates from the mind once the credits roll. The results here are more like Operation Misfortune.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
