Guy Ritchie is an interesting figure in the world of cinema. Some love his style; others feel it’s a bit excessive. He splashed onto the mainstream scene with films like Snatch, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Movies that felt fresh, stylish, and filled with attitude, but also a cleverness. Ritchie also showed he could take on big studio projects while still adapting a bit of his own style with films like Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, and even the more recent live-action Aladdin (a film with plenty of its own non-Ritchie issues). Some question whether Ritchie really needs to inject so much of his own tone into his films and with his most recent Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, the answer should be yes.
Operation Fortune from all appearances is filled with all the necessary pieces to complete another effective Ritchie adventure. A variety of characters with varying personalities played by a more than capable cast of actors. A wild storyline filled with special operatives, missions, and a Hollywood actor. All set in a collection of exotic locations. It’s a big movie, with large action sequences. It’s well-acted, and the focal plot has potential. So, with all of that, where did Operation Fortune go wrong?
The answer is simple. It was missing that Guy Ritchie flare and gusto that made a film like The Gentlemen a sleeper hit of the year. This movie feels like a mashup of Mission: Impossible with The Fast and the Furious and regardless of the studio polish, the high fashion, the international locales, and capable performances, this movie is missing that atmosphere to make it feel like something of its own. It’s missing the music that often serves as the pulse for a Ritchie film. The editing style is straight-forward and lacking those familiar techniques that could make this movie feel like its own. Instead, it’s an admittedly serviceable, but overall, a surprisingly hollow film. The action is surely fun to watch and it’s large in scale to get the adrenaline going. But it all feels like the same beats we’ve seen in many recent action movies.
The humor is for the most part effective in rousing some chuckles. This is where Aubrey Plaza is able to shine and is subtly able to command this movie. But again overall, the wittiness and the clever banter you would expect is toned down making the characters and the plot slightly less engaging. I won’t tell you I didn’t find some fun in watching this movie. It’s nicely paced, and the plot has enough meat to it. However, I do feel the progression was unnecessarily jumbled and instead of peaking interest by planting seeds of story to forecast the future, it just felt confusing. Ritchie plays it much more traditionally in Operation Fortune and the result was good, but not great.
Grade: C+
Copyright: Anthony Digioia (SilverScreen Analysis) © All Rights Reserved.
