The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is VERY loosely based on Operation Postmaster, one of the SOE's first sabotage missions against Nazi Germany. The SOE was the precursor to today's MI6. According to some sources, Ian Fleming based James Bond on Gus March-Phillipps.
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SPOILERS
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PROS
1) The lovely cast is headed by Henry Cavill as March-Phillipps. The entire team has a range of actors who normally play the hero in movies. This time, they show their acting chops as a bunch of psychotic misfits, a la The Dirty Dozen.
2) Guy Ritchie can normally bring out the characterization necessary to sympathize with his protagonists. I think he didn't dig too deep here because these are men who should be incarcerated for murder and many other crimes. The only redeeming feature is these men hate Nazis as much as normal Brits do.
3) It's very obvious the entire cast enjoyed the hell out of playing a bunch of psychotics.
4) In a movie that manages to go over the top, Rory Kinnear does a lovely, delicate job of protraying Winston Churchill as a real human being.
5) Cary Elwes was perfect as the eye-rolling Brigidier trying to keep a lid on the illegal mission while dealing with backstabbing idiots who want to surrender to Hitler.
CONS
1) I really can't think of anything bad about this movie. This flick isn't Oscar material, nor does it pretend to be.
Overall, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was a blast of weekend matinee movie. I give it 8 out of 10 stars for its explosive fun.
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