The latest movie by Guy Ritchie, Operation Fortune, Ruse de Guerre has landed. With Hugh Grant and Jason Statham onboard I braced myself for a high octane heist movie featuring a group of likely English geezers. But would I right?
The movie begins with us finding out that “The Handle” has been stolen. While at this stage no one has any idea what it is, the online bidding war suggests it’s priceless, especially in the wrong hands. Obviously the government of the day is tasked with retrieving said item and to do so they must recruit their finest. Sound familiar?
But then one remembers the title of the movie, Operation Fortune, Ruse de Guerre which translates to “acting against one’s opponent by creative, clever, unorthodox means, sometimes involving force multipliers or superior knowledge.” Unorthodox … so maybe this will be different?
Enter elite spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) who has a love of very fine wine and stunning holiday destinations. These loves are only surpassed by his penchant for large guns and a bit of biffo.
Fortune starts to put together his team but his usual right hand man is not available, instead he must work with Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza) who amongst other talents, excels at all things IT. Fidel also used to work with a rival gang of guns for hire.
It’s not long before we meet billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Realising they need to find a way into Simmonds palatial home, the team reluctantly recruit Hollywood’s current IT boy movie star, Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett). Turns out, you see, Simmonds has a penchant for the girlfriends of Hollywood movie stars, a role Fidel takes on.
With the team cemented they set about on their globe-trotting mission to locate “The Handle” and save the world.
While it’s true to say that the movie followed the tried and true formulae of previous Ritchie movies, it was still an engrossing fun escapist ride. Hugh Grant is a key linchpin as usual. If you like his portrayal of Fletcher in Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, you’ll enjoy Simmonds. While not quite as delicious as Fletcher, Simmonds provides a lot of the key non-biffo entertainment. Stathom does what he does best, providing a working class James Bond. Plaza is good as Fortunes sidekick and it was good to see their pairing not result in the usual romantic relationship (spoiler alert), now that was unorthodox.
Operation Fortune, Ruse de Guerre is a fun escape into the world of guns, geezers and gorgeous settings, an elixir to a tired soul. Make sure you stay for the credits.
Rating 7/10
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