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While Guy Ritchie will never attain the acclaim of his two earliest pictures, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), it doesn’t seem like he’ll ever attain the lows of Swept Away (2002) and Revolver (2005). He has an up-and-down filmography full of hits and misses. Still, he’s managed to forge a name for himself as a mainstream director. Nothing in the realm of what Quentin Tarantino (who Ritchie is often compared to) has accomplished, but a certain amount of expectation comes with a Guy Ritchie film. Especially now that he’s re-established some success recently with Aladdin (2019), The Gentlemen (2020), and the sleeper hit Wrath of Man (2021). For the most part, his latest, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, is a delightful but typical spy heist picture with fun characters and dialogue. Even if it feels a tad watered down and over-extended, I was pretty entertained by it. Still, it’s not one of Ritchie’s most memorable.
We come now to the part where I try to explain the plot. The good news is it’s not as hyper-confusing as some past Guy Ritchie films, but there are needless convolutions. The story revolves around master spy Orson Fortune (not the most creative character naming), played by Guy Ritchie regular Jason Statham. Fortune must hunt down and prevent the deal of a lethal new weapons technology plied by billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant) and his Ukranian mob allies. He pairs with operatives led by Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) and a team consisting of Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza) and J.J. Davies (Bugzy Malone). They recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett), to help them because Simmonds has a particular fondness for him. For the most part, the story is pretty straightforward, even if it reaches a point where it sounds like they’re just making shit up as they go along.
Operation Fortune is more of a genre picture than the zany cross-genre-bending Snatch or The Gentlemen, but what links them is Ritchie’s sense of comedy and irony. Still, Operation Fortune feels more devoted to being a singular spy film. This resembles Guy Ritchie’s take on Mission Impossible or James Bond. It’s more streamlined, which is not necessarily a criticism. Wrath of Man was more of a genre picture as well. I’m not against him working within various genres. He’s tried his hand in the past, working in multiple genres.
While there’s plenty of action and Ritchie keeps things moving at a breakneck pace for the most part, the two things you go to a Guy Ritchie film for are the dialogue and characters. Not particularly character depth, but watching through Ritchie’s snappy dialogue and the actor’s enthusiasm becomes delightful. All the performances are fine and fit well within the Ritchie framework. The highlight performance of the film is Hugh Grant as Simmonds, who devours every scene he’s in with gusto. This is his second pairing with Ritchie after The Gentlemen, in which he was also excellent. A few names appear in both The Gentlemen and Operation Fortune.
Jason Statham fits into a Guy Ritchie film, and this is their fifth pairing together. Ritchie was the one who discovered Statham and put him in Lock Stock and Snatch, giving him a career. Aubrey Plaza has proven she’s a quality actor with last year’s excellent Emily the Criminal, and she’s given the best bits of dialogue and often outshines her male costars. It’s not her doing her super droll routine from Parks and Rec. She brings energy to the role. Josh Hartnett appears in his second straight Guy Ritchie film. He’s not entirely convincing playing the biggest movie star in the world, but he seems to be having fun. One of my childhood favorites Cary Elwes has one of the best roles and juiciest Ritchian dialogue as the squad leader.
You don’t go to Guy Ritchie for anything profound, but at the same time, it would have been nice to have some character development. Wrath of Man at least had some character development for Statham. Still, Operation Fortune makes up for it with comedy and fun. I wouldn’t call it an essential watch in theaters, though, unless you’re a Ritchie fan. The film has not fared so well at the box office and will be streaming in less than a month. As a form of escapism, though, you could do worse.
**1/2 out of ****
