An ultra-dangerous and ultra-mysterious device, so mysterious that no one knows exactly what it is, has been stolen by dark individuals who, through another, darker individual, intend to sell the thing to a third party, of the nobility of the intentions of which it is permissible to doubt. Did you follow? In Operation Fortune. ruse of war, by Guy Ritchie, all of this is established in about a minute or two, with forceful non-linear editing, during a spirited prologue. The sequel, which sees Jason Statham and a motley group of mercenaries attempt to recover “the object” before it falls into the wrong hands, keeps this pace going.
The result is an action and spy comedy that does not revolutionize anything, but is watched with a certain pleasure. It’s not the plot – winding in appearance, predictable in reality – that wins the adhesion, but the tone, the dialogues, and the interpretation.
Indeed, as almost always with the English director, there is an appreciable oral and visual verve at work. The replies fuse, tasty and willingly in both directions. This is especially true when it comes to the fabulous Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal), who plays the gang’s computer systems expert—among other talents. You have to see her ridiculing the ambient machismo by throwing a homoerotic point or a look full of pity.
Jason Statham, a veteran of both the genre and Guy Ritchie’s cinema, from the latter’s first film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Scams, crimes and botany) to its most recent, Wrath of Man (The fury of a man), is no exception. After making his fortune and fame by repeatedly playing the invincible tough guys, Statham demonstrated in spy (Spy) a taste for self-mockery. Without subscribing to this parody register, the relationship between his character, who is often wrong, and that of Plaza, who is often right, give a good part of its piquancy to the film.
As an unscrupulous billionaire arms salesman, Hugh Grant, the new grumpy social media favorite, reconnects with the stickiness of the paparazzi he played in The Gentlemen, again by Guy Ritchie. Candy.
Comfort zone
That being so, Operation Fortune. ruse of war has a little “film by numbers” side. It’s not just that Ritchie confines himself to his comfort zone: the film as such seems to have been put together on the sly with various cogs and parts gleaned here and there from the Hollywood repertoire (this is the fifth film in four years of the director, who is currently finishing a new one).
The sagas 007 And Impossible mission come to mind, The Man from UNCLE (Very special agents. Code UNCLE), from the same Ritchie, too.
Besides, sometimes we have the impression thatOperation Fortune. ruse of war was intended as a US$100-150 million blockbuster ultimately forced to make do with just US$50 million. The fact remains that the film is skilfully executed, has a technical and narrative vivacity, and above all exudes an elegance – elegance is an obsession in Guy Ritchie’s cinema – which distinguishes it from the usual ersatz.