The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) – Review

Quick thoughts – Grade – B+ – The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is an unabashedly violent and cheeky World War II caper that features well-dressed people being sent on an impossible mission. I love it. 

Based on a true story (but still heavily fictionalized) and inspired The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops by author Damien Lewis, Guy Ritchie’s film about a special ops team blowing up boats in West Africa is an absolute delight. It brings together everything that Ritchie loves (cheeky characters, great sweaters, Henry Cavill, and heists), and blends them perfectly into a crowd-pleasing romp that features Alan Ritchson annihilating dozens of Nazi soldiers with perfectly shot arrows. The ensemble cast featuring Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, Eiza González, Cary Elwes, Babs Olusanmokun, Til Schweiger, Alex Pettyfer, and Til Schweiger is well curated, and you can tell that they understood the assignment while looking incredible in outfits designed by Loulou Bontemps (The Gentlemen – Netflix, The Covenant). The movie has been described as “Guy Ritchie’s Inglourious Basterds,” which feels obvious, but you should look at it more as “Guy Ritchie’s Cheeky WW2 romp that feels like The Dirty Dozen met Snatch and then hung out with Operation Fortune. If you haven’t watched any of the mentioned movies, just know that it is a delightful action film with simultaneously low and high stakes. 

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare revolves around a group of ne’er-do-well operatives led by Gus March-Phillips (Cavill), who are tasked with blowing up German boats that transport important filters and parts for the German U-boats that terrorize the Atlantic, and prevent the United States from entering the war. The mission is off any official books due to the German’s running operations out of Fernando Po, a Spanish-controlled island off the coast of western Africa, which means any interference from British troops would push Spain into the war on the side of Axis. This forces the crew to sail through dangerous waters, team up with spies embedded on the island, and battle hundreds of well-armed Nazi troops who occupy the island. It would be a shame to give away too much more of the plot, just know that the movie features excellent grenade usage, nipple torture, and Henry Cavill at his most comfortable and charming. 

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is the type of film that is always welcome because all it wants to do is make the audience smile. It’s cool seeing Eiza González getting bigger roles and I still think Henry Golding will become an action star (despite the Snake Eyes setback). I have a feeling that it will play well on streaming because of its rewatchability and likable cast, and I hope that it does well at the box office because I’d love to see more adventures featuring the cast. 

Final thoughts – Go watch it. It’s a good time.