Tag: War

The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare

2024    Lionsgate

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hrs

Action ~ Comedy ~ War ~ History ~ True Story

Directed By:  Guy Ritchie

Starring:  Henry Cavill, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Henry Golding, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Babs Olusanmokun and Eiza González.

NO RULES. NO REGRETS. JUST VICTORY

Henry Cavill stars as Major Gus March-Phillips who is brought out of Military Prison by Brigadier Colin Gubbins “M” and Ian Fleming late 1941 in England during World War II. He is tasked with heading Operation Postmaster, a last resort mission dreamt up by Winston Churchill, “M” and Ian. An unsanctioned secret operation to go to the Spanish island of Fernando Po in Africa, where the Nazi’s are resupplying their U-boats that are decimating the Royal Navy fleet, and destroy the resupply ships.

Accompanied by Irishman Henry Hayes(Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Freddy “The Buzz” “Frogman” Alvarez(Henry Golding), and “The Danish Hammer” Anders Lassen(Alan Ritchson), they sail around the coast of Africa to La Palma Canary Islands where they storm a Nazi Garrison and extract Geoffrey Appleyard(Alex Pettyfer). They then continue on the Swedish fishing Trawler Maid Of Honor to the Spanish port of Fernando Po to destroy the Nazi resupply ships. A suicide mission fraught with  perils and unexpected twists and turns. They sail between the British Navy ships on one side who will incarcerate them and the Nazi U-boats on the other that will kill them.

This is based on the true story of the first Black Ops before there was such a thing. The beginnings of Agencies like the Navy Seals, CIA and other world agencies that were spawned to do the dirty work under the radar. Gus March-Phillips was the inspiration for James Bond in Ian Flemings novels. Sir Christopher Lee who starred in and was a consultant on numerous James Bond movies, was a member of The Ministry Of Gentlemanly Warfare in it’s early days. He was also second cousin to Ian Fleming.

Cavill delivers his most charismatic performance since The Man from U.N.C.L.E., channeling that mustached grit with Guy Ritchie flair, while his co-stars, like a sharp-shooting Eiza González and the ever-reliable Alan Ritchson, match his energy beat for beat. Christopher Lee’s nod to real history adds gravitas, reminding us these men and women changed the course of history.​

A thrilling blend of fact, legend, and adrenaline-fueled storytelling, this is one of the best True Story war films of recent years. These men and women helped change the course of history. It’s a fantastic story well told and portrayed by all involved in this movie. I love the True Story Movies and I love this one.

A great adventure!

Well done and highly recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

 

Alex Pettyfer, Alan Ritchson, Henry Cavill, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Henry Goldin in THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE.
Photo Credit: Dan Smith for Lionsgate.
Courtesy of Lionsgate.

Warfare

2025   A24

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  35min

Action ~ Drama ~ War ~ True Story

Directed by:  Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland

Starring:  D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Noah Centineo, and Michael Gandolfini.

EVERYTHING IS BASED ON MEMORY………

SYNOPSIS FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Written and directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (Civil War, 28 Days Later), Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family, overseeing the movement of US forces through insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare, told like never before: in real time and based on the memory of the people who lived it.

THE REVIEW:

I was looking for a movie to watch when I saw this on Prime. I am not big on War Movies but did a quick google search and saw it had pretty good ratings, so I thought I’d give it a go. I have watched Saving Private Ryan and liked it, the first twenty minutes is pure hell to watch. I can’t imagine what our soldiers go through when they fight for our freedoms. I saw Warfare was by A24 as well, I love their movies. And Alex Garland directed this as well as Civil War, another newer War movie which I liked as well. I’ve seen it three times so far.

 So anyway I decided to give it a watch. As it starts a Navy Seal platoon is taking sniper positions in support of a US Marines operation. Walking down a main dirt street in Ramadi, Iraq November 19th, 2006 on foot in the quiet of the night. They decide they are going to set up a surveillance outpost inside one of the homes on the street. They quietly break-in and clear all the rooms and put the family that lives there in the main bedroom with an interpreter. They proceed to the upstairs and are greeted with a block wall. The interpreter asks the family why it is there and they tell him that it is another apartment. Another family lives in the upstairs.

The Navy Seals produce a sledge hammer from one of their backpacks and proceed to knock the wall down and escort the upstairs family down to the bedroom with the first family. The Seals set up a surveillance perimeter in the upstairs apartment, busting a hole in the exterior block wall for the sniper scope on a Seal’s Gun. They monitor activity from every direction through all the windows and with the high tech surveillance and satellite monitor they have with them. In constant communication with high command and other platoons on the ground, they become aware that their presence is known and their location has been compromised.

All hell breaks loose as they are fired upon with guns and grenades. And it is pure drama, action and warfare in every direction as they attempt to survive and leave the city of Ramadi. It is a very tense 95 minutes. It is not your typical war movie, it is as if you have been placed right there in the house with the platoon of Navy Seals. It is more like an immersive experience into being a Navy Seal deep in enemy territory on their own turf, fighting for every square inch. It is eye opening, I couldn’t believe the experience of being there with them and what they were going through. I also was very impressed by the brotherhood, camaraderie, and professionalism of the platoon in the face of mortal danger from every direction.

I was also impressed by how much gear these guys carry and I did a quick google search. Navy Seals can carry anywhere from 43 to 100 pounds of gear with them. Unbelievable, these are some tough guys, ready to go. It is a violent, intense, terrifying close up look at what war looks and feels like through the eyes of the Navy Seals Platoon. Ray Mendoza was part of the platoon that day and set out to make this movie for his Navy Seal Brother Elliot who lost a leg in the ordeal. He does not remember much of the mission nor how he lost his leg. Ray thought that he should make a movie based upon all the Platoon’s memories of that day, so that Elliot could see how it all happened.

I liked it but I’m not sure if you will. If you like war movies or have an interest in the Iraq Wars or the Navy Seals…..you should watch it. It is a good one, well done. I felt like I was right there in that room with them. Like I said, it was definitely eye-opening and I have an even greater respect for the Navy Seals and what they do for us now. So it’s worth watching for that.

Operation Mincemeat

2021   Netflix

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  8min

Drama ~ Thriller ~ War

Directed by:  John Madden

Starring:  Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Matthew Macfadyen, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn and Jason Isaacs.

“We’re going to play a humiliating trick on Hitler.”

The Book:

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre – April 5, 2011.

                      NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER                            NOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING COLIN FIRTH    

The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor.

Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory.

The Movie (Warner Brothers UK Website):

Operation Mincemeat

It’s 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe, and plan to launch an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge – how to protect the invasion force from potential annihilation.  It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war – centered on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to turn the tide for the Allies – taking impossibly high risks, defying logic,  and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point.

The Review:

I have seen this movie a few times and just watched it again. It is a remarkable story, hard to believe that MI5 and British Intelligence concocted this plan and set it into motion. And better yet, that the plan worked, fooled Hitler and changed the course of the war. It is very similar to The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the story and the movie. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was based on MI5’s Operation Postmaster which occurred in January 1942. Operation Mincemeat occurred in April 1943. Both British Intelligence Operations that were highly successful in spite of all the odds. I find it completely fascinating how deceptions in special operations were carried out in WWII that ultimately helped defeat Hitler and The Nazi regime.

I wondered how many Operations there were like Postmaster and Mincemeat. Wikipedia has the answer….a lot. Here is the link if you’re interested: OPERATIONS. So just to wrap up Operation Mincemeat: They took a dead body from the city morgue with no apparent family ties and fabricated a background story on him. His service in the military, his social life, family, a girlfriend (they used a photo from one of the secretaries involved in the operation to stick in his pocket). They dressed him up in a Major’s uniform, loaded his briefcase with false attack plans and used a submarine to sneak in off the coast of Spain. They then dropped his body in the water close to shore so someone would find him on the shore and take him to the Nazis.

Ian Fleming, played by Johnny Flynn in this movie, is another interesting look at the role he played in British Intelligence’s role in WWII. Ian Fleming also appears in The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare and was involved in that Operation behind the scenes. In both movies you can see him constantly at his typewriter writing on his fiction work. He would later write the James Bond series of Books that later became a very popular worldwide Movie Franchise. He created 007 and you can see in the movies where he got the influences for his characters. They were inspired by the real men and women doing the dirty work of the covert operations in WWII. Fascinating stuff.

I think it’s a great story and a great movie, well done by the Netflix folks. Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden and Jason Issacs all did great jobs in this. Simon Russell Beale was a very believable Churchill and I really liked Kelly Macdonald as Jean Leslie. I remember her from Boardwalk Empire, I’m a fan of that series. This is a good war movie without much of the violence and bloodshed, more of a secret agent spy covert operation movie.

Yes, this is a good one, you should watch it.

Two Thumbs Up!

Sisu

2022   Lionsgate

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  31min

Action ~ War ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Jalmari Helander

Starring:  Jorma Tommila, alongside Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo and Onni Tommila.

Vengeance is Golden

FROM THE OFFICIAL SISU MOVIE WEBSITE:

During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner.

While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word SISU, this legendary ex-commando will embody what SISU means: A white knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path.

SISU THE MOVIE:

Starts with the description:

SISU

is a Finnish word that cannot be translated.

It means a white-knuckled form of courage

and unimaginable determination.

Sisu manifests itself when all hope is lost.

1944

Then we see the lone prospector and his dog panning for gold in a stream. Then:

CHAPTER 1: THE GOLD

comes on the screen and the prospector finds a sliver of gold in the creek. He starts to dig around the stream looking for the vein of gold and indeed finds the vein of gold. He digs it up and fills his saddle bags with the gold. Then he loads up on his horse and heads out on the long road to town followed by his dog. On the way he encounters The Nazis……

CHAPTER 2: THE NAZIS

And a Minefield that the Nazis planted as they were leaving Finland……..

CHAPTER 3: MINEFIELD

And we find out who the prospector really is and why he is ………..

CHAPTER 4: THE LEGEND

Scorched Earth is the policy the Nazis had on their retreat out of Finland, it is also now the prospectors policy………..

CHAPTER 5: SCORCHED EARTH

And along with some new friends, they want to………

CHAPTER 6: KILL ‘EM ALL

THE REVIEW:

The Scenery, filmography and special effects:

The scenery of untouched Finland unravaged by Nazi hands….Beautiful. As the Nazis start to enter the frame and the land they have touched, the filmography echoes that. Colors fade into the grey of war and the evilness of the Nazi war machine. The special effects were awesome. Explosions, horrific graphic violence, lots of blood and body parts, and fog…lots of fog.

The Legend:

The prospector character was loosely based on a WWII Finnish sniper who reportedly killed over 500 Nazis. He is played by Finnish actor Jorma Tomilla, a mild mannered actor in real life. He transformed himself into a complete bad-ass in this movie. I say well done to that transformation and great job acting as The Legend. He never says a word until the very last scene in the movie and conveys so much without uttering a single word throughout the rest of the movie. Interestingly enough Jorma’s son is also an actor and played one of the Nazis in the movie.

The Dog:

The prospector’s dog is a Bedlington Terrier which looks slightly like a wild poodle. The director had his mind set on a more vicious dog breed for the movie but when he saw Jorma Tomilla’s dog he decided to use him instead. You can see the bond the two have in real life coming through in the scenes in the movie. Personally I think the Dog was the second best actor in the film, right after Jorma.

My final words(Promise):

It reminded me of INGLORIUS BASTARDS, that movie was also laid out in Chapters. And obviously because of WWII and The Nazis but also because of the over the top violence. It was almost as if parts of it were a horror/slasher movie. Make no mistake, there is lots of violence and it is horrific, but in a horror movie type of way. Even though this is a war movie I think it borders on some good old fashioned horror, kind of like Strange Darling or Ready Or Not. It reminds me of Strange Darling in how the movie is laid out in chapters also.

I loved this movie, I loved everything about it. The story, the legend, the dog, the women. I am a fan and am ready for SISU 2. Bring it on……..

Mimosa Willamo as Aino in SISU. Copyright Freezing Point Oy.
Photo Credit: Antii Rastivo
Courtesy of Lionsgate
Jorma Tommila as Aatami Korpi in SISU. Credit: Copyright Freezing Point Oy, photographer Antti Rastivo
SISU Movie Poster
Courtesy of Lionsgate

The Tomorrow War

2021   Amazon MGM Studios

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  18min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by:  Chris McKay

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, and Keith Powers.

“If I have to save the world to save my daughter, then I’m damn sure gonna do that.”

In the middle of the world televised 2021 Soccer World Cup games, time travelers arrive from 2051 to deliver an urgent message: 30 years in the future mankind is losing a war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians to be transported to the future and join the fight. Determined to save the world for his daughter, Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J. K. Simmons) to rewrite the planet’s fate.

That’s the synopsis from Amazon Prime’s site. Society and Governments decide after that little interruption that they need to have a worldwide draft, and help the future fight. Each service consists of a week in the future, counted down in hours by the electronic metal arm sleeve they attach. Dan Forester (Chris Pratt),one r, (inside movie joke) is drafted and leaves his wife and young daughter behind to serve his week in the future. There are two major story lines and two sub-plots here:

  1. The invasion of a deadly alien species hell bent on humanities destruction and demise.
  2. Time Travel between now and thirty years into the future.
  3. The relationship between Dan and his daughter Muri (Yvonne Strahovski)
  4. And Dan’s tumultuous relationship with his estranged father (J. K. Simmons).

I’ll be honest, I put off watching this one for awhile. I have seen the reviews and had it on my watchlist. Given the reviews I thought, “Ehh…I don’t know….I’ll save it for a rainy day or a cold winter day.” Last night was the end of a cold Winter’s day so…..I watched it last night. Sci-Fi can be tricky, it is either really good or it is at best a B-movie. It can be a fine line and The Tomorrow War straddled that line. The effects were outstanding. I loved the Alien creatures, stealthy killing machines that were fascinating to watch. Reminded me of The Creatures in the A Quiet Place Movies.

It also reminded me of Edge Of Tomorrow and Looper, because of the time travel scenario. Looper was kind of hard to follow time travel wise because of the implications of every action in the present affecting the outcome of the future. It was deep and you really had to pay attention. The Tomorrow War is not that deep, like the people that had to be transported 30 years into the future and fight, you don’t need to think about it. You just need to buckle up and experience the ride. I think the star power helped it’s cause, if there had been lesser known actors it would have fell into the B movie Sci-fi category.

I liked Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski and Sam Richardson in this. Sam had me chuckling at his character. I liked J.K. Simmons but his role wasn’t that deep or detailed. He didn’t really have much of a presence until the very end. And when the heck did J.K. Simmons get so buffed out? I remember seeing him in Red One and asking myself that question. I didn’t really find anything implausible with this movie’s time travel scenario or the movie itself, but then I wasn’t looking that hard. I went in thinking I’m just gonna turn the brain off and get lost in a movie. And I did exactly that, I got lost in it. The almost 2 and a half hours flew by

And that is exactly the kind of movie it is. You want to put down the notepad, quit analyzing, grab some popcorn and a beverage and lose yourself in the journey. That’s what this movie is, a good escape, an Action Adventure Sci-Fi thrill ride that takes you to another place and time. Dealing with things that are imaginary, outside the normal scope of our day to day.

There is a sequel in the works The 2morrow War and I would watch it to see where they take it.

It’s worth a watch on a rainy day or a cold Winter’s night.

A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place Part II

A Quiet Place: Day One

Edge Of Tomorrow

Red One

Passengers