Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre

              When you go into a Guy Ritchie film, you can usually expect something that will please both your eyes and ears. While not every one of them has worked, I am looking at you Swept Away, sometimes just by adding Jason Statham to the cast can pretty much assure it is going to be a banger.

            The world is a dangerous place and there are things out there that no one wants to fall into the wrong hands. Well one of those items has, and the government needs a bicycle messenger in a traffic jam, and that man is Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes). Actually he is not the man, but he knows the man that can get it done. The real man is Orson Fortune (Jason Statham), who has a whole slew of particular skills for this job. This however, is not a one man job, so Nathan has put together a team. Joining Fortune is JJ Davies (Bugzy Malone) and Sarah Fidel (Audrey Plaza) as they try and figure out where, whatever they are looking for, is going. With some good work, they get a lead, but they are going to need a way into places that can’t go. So they attempt to recruit a movie star named Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett). After a little persuading, Danny agrees to help as he is about to meet his biggest fan in Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant), who just happens to be an arms dealer. While Danny is putting on the performance of his career, the real team is following the clues that will lead them to that thing they are looking for. What follows is,what feels like a satirical version of Mission Impossible, minus the death defying stunts.

Written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies, and Ritchie they deliver a pretty straight forward narrative with a surprising lack of twist. There is no good and bad here, as everyone gets the same treatment, it’s like Ritchie is almost making fun of the forces of light and darkness. There is also no long presentations of characters and doesn’t really go into details, but trust me you won’t care when it’s all over. Ritchie also brings his usual dry humor and Statham and now Grant are almost too perfect in their roles. His humor isn’t the only strong suit Ritchie has, as he also has an incredible sense of rhythm in his sequences, something that few possess.

             Operation Fortune archives its mission, which is to amuse and entertain its audience. The pace is fast, and I can assure you boredom will not be a problem and it is both visually and acoustically charged. Unfortunately seeing how not chances are being taken, this does often feel like Ritchie is playing it safe. But even as he does he still is able to deliver something so entertaining and that speaks volume of his skills. The cast is good, with standout performances by Statham and Grant, as the old guard, and Plaza who almost steals every scene she is in. Operation Fortune doesn’t seek to revolutionize the genre, it just wants to give you a solid two hour spy movie, that will leave you wanting a more daring sequel.