Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is the latest entry into the Guy Ritchie-verse. For those that know the director, you know exactly what that means. And for the uninitiated, it means you’re getting a stylish, witty, action comedy that often favors that style over substance. When done well, his movies can be immensely entertaining, with snappy dialogue and fun action set pieces. It’s a bit of a high-risk high-reward situation. Ritchie likes to go all-in on his signature style, for better or worse. During any down stretches, it can be a tough watch. Luckily, however, he tends to have a pretty good grasp of what he wants, so those stretches are few and far between. Unfortunately, Operation Fortune is the rare occurrence where it felt like Ritchie was holding back.
The set-up is disappointingly generic. Do-it-all super-spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) is tasked with recovering “The Handle” from billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Nobody knows what is it, or who specifically wants it (Simmonds is the middle man brokering the deal), but they know it’s bad and that bad people want it. Fortune’s team consists of JJ (Bugzy Malone), another do-it-all super-spy, tech expert Sarah (Aubrey Plaza), with Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) the team’s handler. Complicating matters is a rival British intelligence team who seems to be one or two steps ahead of them at all times.
But there’s one more surprise member for Fortune’s squad: movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett). Francesco just so happens to be Simmonds’ favorite actor, so Fortune’s team blackmails him to help them infiltrate Simmonds’ inner circle. This was both the best and worst thing about Operation Fortune. Hartnett is easily the best thing here, giving a pitch-perfect performance of an arrogant, over-the-top Hollywood mega star. Every scene with Hartnett is made better by his inclusion. Even being in a good chunk of the movie, it still wasn’t enough. He should have been every bit a main character as the rest of Fortune and his team. But alas, it wasn’t to be, so be sure to savor every minute we get with Francesco.
Nipping at Hartnett’s heels as the movie’s real star is Hugh Grant. He was terrific in Ritchie’s The Gentlemen from 2019, and he’s in top form again here as the eccentric billionaire (as if there’s any other kind). He may be an arms dealer, but he leans more into the campy, fun side of the character rather than the potentially terrifying side such an individual could be. It was the better choice, fitting in seamlessly with the larger tone of the movie.
The rest of the movie, though, is your standard boiler-plate spy caper. Each plot point progresses and resolves itself about exactly as you would expect them too. The big “twist” near the end should be obvious to everyone. To be fair, the globe-trotting spy formula is a formula that can work decently enough without much effort. It has a pretty solid baseline that should be easy to meet for most movies. But Operation Fortune doesn’t do much to go beyond that baseline.
The usual witty dialogue you would expect from Ritchie isn’t fully there. There are moments, but there’s no consistency to it outside of Hartnett and Grant.. The great cast certainly helps, as they’re able to elevate some of the blander lines through sheer talent and will power. The action set pieces are fine, nothing special. They’re not bad, by any means. They’re mostly just…there. There’s no snappy editing or slick camera tricks to take those scenes up a notch. Like most of the rest of the movie, these scenes might be fun enough, but they’re not going to elicit any major feeling or excitement.
And that’s generally the entire vibe with Operation Fortune – again, except for Hartnett and Grant. There are a couple flashes here and there of Ritchie’s better movies, but for whatever reason, it feels like he didn’t want to go there. It’s a decent enough action comedy that should mostly satisfy genre enthusiasts who just want some decent entertainment for a couple hours. But if you’re looking for something slightly more elevated, this likely won’t do the trick.
Score: 70/100
