Guy Ritchie has been bringing the hits for decades now. From Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, to more recent films such as The Gentlemen, Ritchie is almost always entertaining. His latest film, Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, has been done for quite some time, but the US release was delayed repeatedly due to STX Films’ financial troubles. Now, thanks to Lionsgate, the film is finally getting a US release.
If you’ve seen Ritchie’s most well-known films, you already know he has a certain style. He takes a genre film and turns it on its side with creative dialogue, impressive camera work, and plenty of laughs. While Operation Fortune doesn’t quite have Ritchie’s trademark craziness, it still gives the spy genre a shot in the arm with fun characters, and engaging plot twists.
Operation Fortune follows Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) and his team of spies led by Orson Fortune (Jason Statham). Nathan brings in Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza) as his tech guru and JJ Davies (Bugzy Malone) for added muscle and marksmanship. The group is competing against a rival spy team led by Mike (Peter Ferdinando). Along the way, they come across Hollywood action star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett), who joins in on the fun.
Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza are starting to get typecast, so you probably already know what to expect from their performances. Statham is the suave action hero who seemingly can’t be stopped, while Plaza is the snide and mildly obnoxious know-it-all. While both of them are in rare form, it’s Josh Hartnett’s Danny Francesco and Hugh Grant’s Greg Simmonds who steal the show.
Hartnett plays Francesco in an over-the-top manner, but with enough finesse that it’s just the right amount of humor and ridiculousness to work perfectly in tandem with Statham and Plaza. Meanwhile, Hugh Grant is the Bond villain we didn’t know we needed. This is romantic comedy Hugh Grant, only as an evil billionaire playboy. It may sound odd on paper, but it’s a magical experience.
Think of Operation Fortune as Mission: Impossible with a slight Guy Ritchie flavor. It’s not full on Lock, Stock Guy Ritchie, but still nowhere near as reserved as King Arthur or Aladdin. It’s fairly similar in tone to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., but with more going on so it’s not as straightforward. Ritchie hasn’t done many sequels in his career, but we’d love to see a sequel to Operation Fortune if only to see how these characters evolve now that introductions are out of the way.
About Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
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.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies
Stars: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett, Bugzy Malone
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour, 54 Minutes
Releases: March 3, 2023
Bryan Dawson has been writing professionally since the age of 13. He started his career as a video game writer and has since worked for Random House, Prima Games, DirecTV, IGN, AOL, the British Government, and various other organizations. For GNN, Bryan taps into his passion for movies.
