There was a time when a Guy Ritchie movie meant a rollicking crime thriller, punched up with irreverent comedy, colorful criminals, and a dizzyingly cool soundtrack. It’s been 25 years since he blazed onto the scene with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. As his star rose, his productions got bigger and glossier, courting a broader audience. But after Sherlock Holmes and Aladdin and the like, has he lost the edge that made him exciting at the start? Judging from his latest, the English action director is trudging through the motions.
Sure, on its surface, the insufferably titled Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre looks like Ritchie in his sweet spot. Jason Statham, who made his big screen debut in Lock, headlines as a sleek yet surly special agent who hates playing by the rules and loves a big expense budget. (Think Archer but grumblier.) Tasked with tracking down a mysterious MacGuffin, the ludicrously named Orson Fortune (Statham) tangles with a crew of misfits and egomaniacs, played by the likes of Bugzy Malone, Cary Elwes, Josh Hartnett, Aubrey Plaza, and Hugh Grant. But amid the spurting star power and convoluted plotline of rivalry spy agencies, Hollywood hokum, and criminally clumsy stunt scenes, this movie is a mess of mediocrity.
What’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre about?
Credit: Dan Smith/Lionsgate
Orson is called in by his handler (Elwes) to recover “the handle,” a priceless something or other that likely is a big deal, but even the super-secretive British bloke (Eddie Marsan) handing out the assignment doesn’t know what it is or what it does. The sheer shrug of a setup suggests that the movie’s screenwriters (Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, and Marn Davies) think action-comedy fans care so little about plot that specifics or stakes are expendable.
On the quest to recovery, Orson and his crew aim to infiltrate the operation of a bombastic arms dealer (Hugh Grant) by using an arrogant movie star (Josh Hartnett) as their cover. It’s a fun idea that might have allowed for some skewering of Hollywood culture alongside spy spectacle. But the painfully flimsy script treats its satire potential as a hazy afterthought, mostly using the movie star’s ego as a punching bag.
Rather than a Bond villain aiming to undermine Orson, the biggest bad here is a rival private agency that is also after the handle. Orson and his team whine a lot about this, and it’s almost funny to hear spies complain about a sort-of colleague with the petty ire of an office worker. Almost. But mostly it feels like the death of any stakes, as it’s not so much a question if the mysterious, probably important thingamabob gets rescued but who rescues it. That could be interesting if Orson or his cohorts were captivatingly quirky characters to root for. Unfortunately, they are thinly sketched and played with all the enthusiasm of a sedated librarian.
Hugh Grant outshines Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, and all the rest.
Credit: Dan Smith/Lionsgate
Statham seems to be sleepwalking through a role that — to be fair — looks like a dodgy photocopy of parts he’s played before. Shed is the souped-up machismo of his Fast and Furious persona. Forgotten is the self-mocking intensity of his surly agent in Spy. Orson is the kind of operative who strolls and snarks and blathers on about the finer things, all with a surly attitude that might be meant to be irreverent or salty but mostly reads as bored.
Plaza, who has a fandom dedicated to her signature snark, fumbles here, depended on to be the challenging American, the comic relief, and the slapdash love interest, because sure why not. Rather than the subdued sarcasm of Parks and Recreation‘s April Ludgate or the sexy snarls that her persona has thrived under, Plaza offers the irksome rambunctiousness of a pesky kid sister, coarse and juvenile. Far from edgy or sexy or cool, Plaza eye-rolls and Statham harumphs. Both of them seem annoyed for much of the movie. And who could blame them when Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre‘s idea of banter is lines like, “I hope you take him to dinner first. Before you get inside of him. Sssssssexaually,” and “Please don’t pee on me. I don’t do that anymore.”
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Maybe I’m projecting, and it’s just me that was bored and annoyed. In any case, I’m grateful for Hugh Grant, who is improbably cast as a classless billionaire but is rousingly amusing in the role. Understandably, much of the cast struggles — even battles — against a script plagued by tedious exposition dumps, clumsy grousing, and dumb sex jokes. But Grant manages to thrive by gleefully biting into the throaty accent of a British gangster while luxuriating in a bright blue velvet suit. With a glimmer in his eye and a crooked smile on his lips, he’s the only performer in this movie that seems to be having fun, and while he’s onscreen that amusement is thankfully contagious.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre is an ugly and tedious “action” movie.
Credit: Dan Smith/Lionsgate
There are fight scenes and car chases and political intrigue. But much like the dialogue, much of it feels like Ritchie was cashing a paycheck instead of watching the monitor. Statham does some hand-to-hand combat, but it lacks the verve, creativity, and intensity we’ve seen in his many, many other action outings. This movie’s action sequences feel like obligations over opportunities.
Among the most disappointing is a car chase sequence where the hero car spins to a dramatic about-face, but the action that follows falls flat from a lack of coverage. An aerial shot of the speeding car cuts to a tight shot of Plaza emerging out of the passenger window to fire a gun. Instead of cutting to the impact of her shots, Ritchie returns to the aerial, which is so far from the action that we might as well be looking at Matchbox cars. Basically, it looks cheap. Not gritty, not indie, not interesting, just cutting corners cheap. As if a properly thrilling array of shots wasn’t worth their time, money, or effort.
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All of this bumbling exposition, eye roll-worthy dialogue, underwhelming action, and wasted star power finally trips into an ending that is chaotic but not exciting. Then, after all that, Ritchie has the absolute gall to set up the possibility of a sequel, where Orson Fortune and his crew might return for more mischief as if they are Ocean’s Eleven or the Fast 10 or even the Rescue Rangers. But with their first movie rotted by half-hearted jokes, shrugged performances, and a shocking lack of moxie or style, a second Fortune film feels less like a tantalizing promise and more like an over-the-shoulder threat.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre opens in theaters March 3.
