Guy Richie has been a very prolific director in recent years. He has made a handful of very good movies including the live-action Aladdin starring Will Smith as the genie, The Gentlemen co-starring Hugh Grant, and Wrath of Man starring Jason Statham. His latest film Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, an action/comedy heist film, stars both of these two English gentlemen, no pun intended. It is a rollercoaster ride of adrenaline.
Spy operative Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) is tasked with assembling a group of men and women to find a secret device dubbed “the handle” which can control satellites and in turn launch nuclear missiles at any target and blame them on any country the owner of the device chooses. Among the team that he assembles is Elite Spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza) tech guru, and JJ Davis another British agent on the ground. The problem is they have a rogue agent Mike Hook who wants the device and a billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmons (Hugh Grant) and his lawyer to deal with as well. This is a fun action pact romp.
Grant’s character has a penchant for Hollywood types and he is a big fan of actor Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett). As part of the Ruse de Guerre Stathams, team recruits Harnett’s character to help them get the device back into the proper authorities’ hands. Avoiding a potential world war three. The thing is with all these characters something is bound to go wrong and it does. Mayhem and craziness ensue and it’s pretty good fun.
This movie is a globetrotting story that starts in London, England, and goes everywhere from Morocco, North Africa to Madrid, Spain, Cannes, France, Doha, Qatar, Tekidaq, Turkey, and Hollywood. All of these locations had their own unique qualities that add to the overall story and entertainment value of the movie. There were plenty of action sequences shot in some of these places as well. The action scenes for lack of a better word were fast and furious, to say the least. This movie had it all.
One thing about Guy Richie you can’t say is he doesn’t have a sense of humor. Or that he’s not a soccer fan or in most of the world they call it futbol. There are a pair of oddball characters called Trent and Arnold which is the first and last name of Liverpool winger Trent Alexander Arnold. Coincidence, I think not. Maybe Richie is a huge Liverpool fan. I am one so that’s why I caught that little nod to my favorite soccer team from the English Premier League.
Richie wrote the movie with Ivan Atchinson & Marn Davies. That added a lot of different elements to make this a fun action-heist comedy. Richie’s unique style and quick wit referring to the dialogue are here in spades. Especially with the Grant character. He is pretty fast and funny regarding that dialogue. Plaza and Harnett do a good job in their scenes together as well. I can see why he gets all these actors who want to line up to be in his films. They are a load of fun to be a part of.
Lionsgate and STX Entertainment signed on as the backers of this movie for a reason. It’s a funny action heist comedy that doesn’t lose its step. It starts fast and doesn’t slow down. Richie and the writers crafted an interesting story with a MacGuffin that serves as the main plot point of the whole story and it makes sense in this world they created. The cast is fantastic with Statham doing good work and Grant, Plaza, and Hartnett being the standouts. This film has come out under the radar but it’ll be a fun time at the cinemas for anybody looking for something different this weekend.
3 ½ stars
Dan Skop Allen
From the Fourth Row! 