Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

(2024)

I love a good historical film. The ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is loosely based on history so I was in!

An account of the events which lead to the formation of black ops and other covert type operations, MoUW follows a group of miscreants and ne’er-do-wells who just can’t get enough of stabbin’ and killin’. They’re positively thrilled by it!

Granted, they’re killing Nazis so maybe their joy is merited. I’m not going to judge.

In reality, however, these men were apparently upstanding individuals. Hardly miscreants at all; frequently-do-wells in fact. But this is ungentlemanly warfare and naturally Guy Richie wants a film about ungentlemans so this is what we get.

Churchill was represented in this film as a caricature of Churchill. I felt like the actor who played him thought he was doing a comedy impersonation. The version of Churchill played by Dan Bull from Epic Rap Battles of History comes off as more serious than this guy… but whatever. I suppose the portrayal fits with the rest of this tounge-in-cheek “historical” movie.

It was amazing what these fellows and a lady achieved and obviously it pretty much led to victory for the Allied forces.

I was mainly excited for this film because of the portrayal of Ian Flemming, creator of the James Bond character. His involvement in this story however was ultimately kind of lackluster. I assumed he was involved with the operation itself but he was just a guy kind of on the sidelines. I guess the fact that he was aware of and connected to actual covert operations is still pretty cool.

Strangely, the music for this film sounds like a spaghetti western. Standard Guy Ritchie fare. I guess it fits but I find it an odd choice. I’ve learned from experience, adding derpy music to a scene featuring amateur acting and amateur editing can give the audience the impression that this amateurish scene was done that way intentionally. Consider the film Napoleon Dynamite. I think spaghetti western style music in a modern film adds a very forgiving campiness to what would otherwise be a very serious film.