Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Ritchie, working from a script he cowrote with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, has taken all of this and transformed it into a movie that’s so clever and airy yet grounded, so sparkling with devil-may-care bravado, so poised right where you want it to be ­— a step ahead of the audience but also leading us right along — that it gives off the charge of a great screwball comedy.

For the most part, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is a fun time at the movies. There’s laughter, action, and movie stars playing to their strengths. It’s exactly what audiences expect to see from Ritchie and that’s its main selling point. If only the second hour was tighter, maintaining the film’s fast rhythm.

It’s slick in one moment and a little too scrappy the next but Ritchie’s puppyish insistence that you have as much as fun as his stars is hard to resist. The film’s bizarrely reticent rollout might have already killed any chance of further operations but there have been far, far worse franchise-starters in recent years.

Lazily bopping around to exotic locales in France, Turkey and Qatar, it’s a generic collage of mega-yachts, luxe hotels, fancy parties, disguised identities and tame fights that add up to a big nothing.

The action and the scenes with Grant's sleazeball arms dealer are the only situations where "Operation Fortune" feels genuinely alive and not like a collection of tired jokes and so-so set pieces.

There are tiny glimpses of someone who has genuine chops behind the camera, almost but not quite enough to make you think that, given more time and focus, he could have made something out of these spare parts. Or maybe, just maybe, this whole botched Operation is designed to make his older, possibly lesser work look better.

Promising but failing to deliver the colorful characters and winding, breakneck plot of a caper, Operation Fortune may itself be a ruse, but it’s not a convincing one.

Jason Statham is the action man and Guy Richie one of my favourite directors. Alone watching Josh Barnettplay an actor recruitedfor a mission he is not made for is worth the ticket money. Enjoyed the movie immensely.

Apparently, someone thought they could mix spies, heists, and Jason Statham's eternal smirk into a cocktail and call it a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but let's not pretend this is some next-level spy thriller. Let's be honest, Jason Statham's always fun to watch. You're not here for Oscar-worthy acting; you're here to watch him roundhouse kick bad guys and drop one-liners like they're going out of style, and on that front, he delivers. But we've seen this act before, and it's starting to feel like he's stuck on autopilot. The fight scenes are well-choreographed, the explosions are big enough to make Michael Bay blush, and the pacing is fast enough that you don't have time to realize how ridiculous the plot is. You're basically watching an extended highlight reel of fight scenes, car chases, and gunfights. If that that's your jam, you'll be happy. Just don't expect any emotional depth beyond "I'm gonna punch this guy in the face." There are a few solid laughs sprinkled throughout. You've got the classic Guy Ritchie wit, and Statham's deadpan delivery still lands a chuckle here and there. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but it's enough to keep things light while bullets fly and bad guys make bad decisions. There's a quirky energy here, but it feels like they're trying a little too hard to be cool instead of just letting the comedy flow naturally. Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant add some much-needed flavor to this otherwise predictable dish. Aubrey's snarky tech expert brings the sass, and Hugh's sleazy arms dealer is a delight, like a British uncle you wouldn't trust but can't help enjoying. These two almost steal the show, and without them, this movie would be about as exciting as a tax audit. Let's face it, the plot is thinner than a dollar-store toilet paper roll. It's your basic "elite team has to stop bad guys from doing bad things" setup, but it's about as original as watching reruns of Mission: Impossible. You've got some shady arms deal, a high-stakes heist, and double-crosses so predictable, you'll see them coming from a mile away. But hey, you're not here for the story, you're here for the spectacle. While the movie is entertaining, it's also about as fresh as leftover pizza. It's got all the classic spy-thriller ingredients, but it doesn't really do anything with them. We've seen this all before: the suave hero, the quirky sidekicks, the evil mastermind with more money than sense. It's like they took a checklist from every other spy movie and just checked off the boxes without adding anything truly unique. At least the movie doesn't waste your time. It moves fast, jumps from one action set piece to the next, and doesn't give you too much room to think about how little sense everything actually makes. It's fun while it's happening, but don't ask too many questions, or you'll ruin the ride. Final score: 6/10. It's flashy, it's action-packed, and Jason Statham does what Jason Statham does best: beat the crap out of people while making it look cool. But if you're looking for something with depth, emotion, or even a coherent plot, you're gonna be left feeling empty. Fun? Yes. Groundbreaking? Not even close.

(Mauro Lanari) Did Ritchie also bend to the logic of marketing by trying to launch his own cinematic universe? If these are the reviews and box office receipts, a possible sequel will be unlikely. I was negatively struck by the denial of his stylistic code: the volcanic editing. And even his peculiar funny dialogues and situations slowly fade away. Not one of his best films, but not one of the worst either.

Talented cast but Guy Ritchie, as always, is kind of hit-and-miss. This movie is definitely a miss. The story starts off interestingly enough but it loses steam halfway through. The majority of this movie is about characters having never-ending conversations that are written as if they are quick-witted and funny but they aren't. It runs a good 20 minutes too long and it would have been much more tolerable if it were shorter.

Não sei o que acontece com Hollywood para criar coisas bizarras como essa. Ainda que o filme abrace o tom satírico e não se leve tão a sério, é tudo tão forçado que passa do humor para a vergonha alheia em muitas cenas, sem contar que a ação está fraca para sustentar a trama, diferente da franquia "velozes e furiosos" que também peca pela verossimilhança mas ao menos diverte. Temos aqui o caso de uma maleta roubada que esconde um objeto deveras valioso, capaz de movimentar duas equipes para resgatá-lo, uma delas de Orson Fortune. Ao menos os personagens quase sempre são carismáticos. No meio de uma transação comercial bilionária, destacando a importância do objeto, o roteiro vai nos conduzindo a situações absurdas, vai e vem entre várias cidades, tudo para resgatar o tal objeto. O grande problema aqui nem é tanto a rápida construção dos personagens, com aquela típica edição acelerada. O maior problema mesmo é que a ação não funciona, e a maioria das piadas (?) estão fora do tom. Até curto a sensação autoindulgente de não se levar tão a sério, embora aqui realmente esteja indefensável qualquer tentativa de se tornar uma experiência satisfatória. É um filme tão aborrecida que lá pelas tantas nem nos importamos mais com os absurdos, e queremos que todo aquele suplício termine de vez, já que basicamente o filme se perde em reviravoltas e diálogos ruins. Tentei me lembrar de alguma cena de ação marcante e não tive êxito. Assim, é um filme vazio, que precisa de muita suspensão da realidade e não entrega o básico. Desnecessário.