The collaboration between director Guy Ritchie and actor Jason Statham began back in 1998. Then Ritchie released his first feature film, “Cards, Money, Two Barrels”, which allowed Statham to launch his acting career. The creative tandem has surprised people all over the world more than once, for example, as in the 2005 film “Revolver”, which concealed a well-thought-out psychological thriller under the guise of an action film. At the beginning of 2023, the tandem of Ritchie and Statham returned with the spy action “Operation Fortune: The Art of Victory”. We tell you how it turned out in the review below.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
Spy action genre
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Starring Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Hugh Grant
Premiere cinemas
Release year 2023
IMDb site
The ending of the film sounds quite mundane. Somewhere in the world, a new deadly weapon was invented, which immediately attracted the interest of terrorists from all over the world. In this regard, arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant) is preparing to turn a device that could forever change the already fragile world balance.
To prevent this, the top secret agent Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) takes on the case. But his skills alone are not enough for this mission, so to support the spies they hire Hollywood actor Danny Francesco (Josh Gartnett), whose extravagant skills could potentially save the world.
Guy Ritchie’s films are almost uncannily recognizable by just a couple of scenes. Let the director never hint at excessive pathos or innovation in everything, the combination of his stylistic techniques and approaches to filming in general create that mystical “real cinema” that film connoisseurs like to grumble about since the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood. But Richie never forgets the “simple” moments that are accessible to anyone and everyone, because of which any of his work can cause sincere satisfaction.
Of course, sometimes the director resorts to experiments (as in the aforementioned “Revolver”), but for the most part he focuses on bringing his creative vision within the framework of a focused, well-defined story. And “Operation “Fortune”” is just a standard example of a film in the Ritchie style. This fact alone will be enough for people to go to the cinema.
The locations here dynamically change one after the other, as if in a crazy kaleidoscope, and the overall pace accelerates as quickly as possible, which is sometimes lacking in modern films, which spend half of the running time on a single introduction to the main actions. “Operation “Fortuna”” is not too formal with the perception of the viewer and immediately throws him into the thick of events. Such an emphasis on action somewhat betrays the middle of the “zero” action games, in which the number of actions prevails over the quality.
But Richie here also avoids all dangerous places thanks to a competent script and bright characters. It is the heroes of the director’s films that attract the main part of the interest. “Operation “Fortuna”” was no exception here.
Absolutely every character in the film turned out to be bright and rich in terms of script content. Watching the interactions between them is pure pleasure. Richie doesn’t try to make his characters superhuman and regularly shows their more human, weak and clumsy traits. This approach works even with Statham’s character, from whom in movies you often expect the height of human tenacity.
The film also successfully combines comedic elements with its high-adrenaline tension. The latter are always appropriate here and are built on the extravagance of individual characters. Again, as was always the case with Richie. There is no doubt that soon the film will be stretched to funny tiktoks, as it once was with “Gentlemen”.
However, if we talk about shortcomings, then “Operation “Fortuna”” seems to cling too strongly to the characteristic features of its director’s work. The film does have everything that audiences love about Richie, but none of the elements stand out strongly enough to take their own place in the mind.
That is, “Operation “Fortuna”” is valuable for the combination of its elements, but not for its individual interesting findings. The authors do not play with the spy theme here, the comedy is funny, but not outstanding, and the action is breathtaking, but it is not able to cause a single sincere “wow”. Ritchie made a great, but still “popcorn” film, which is worth spending time on, even if you know nothing about the director’s work at all. And the fans will definitely appreciate it. Only, it is unlikely that “Operation “Fortune”” will be remembered with the same love as “Gentlemen” or “Sherlock Holmes”.
And here is one more interesting fact for you, which is unlikely to affect the evaluation of the film, but will allow the film crew to be influenced. Initially, gangsters from Ukraine were supposed to appear in the film, who would help the main villain. But the producers decided to get rid of this element, because against the background of Ukraine’s war with Russia, this would look like “bad taste” and evil teasing of the audience. As a result, the premiere was even postponed for almost a year.
Pros: excellent acting by every person in the frame; stellar cast, the chemistry of the relationship between which is riveting to the screen; high dynamics of actions and constant change of locations do not allow to get bored; successful and not stupid comedic elements Cons: too banal scenario, there is nothing to be surprised about; against the background of other works of Ritchie, this film seems a bit bland and ordinary Conclusion:
“Operation Fortune” entertains and entertains – and does it well. The film handles all its elements competently. And even if he wants more from him too often, especially given the name of the director, it does not prevent the adventure of Agent Orson Fortune from being a great pastime for everyone
