‘Operation Fortune’ Review: Guy Ritchie’s Long-Delayed Action Comedy Misses the Mark

thewrap.com:

When it comes to the genre playgrounds he loves so much, is Guy Ritchie better off being himself or playing along? His brash, bad-lad calling cards (“Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch”) were never terribly original, but their style-to-burn derivativeness had spirit.

His Hollywood larks (“Sherlock Holmes,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) never felt honest but the occasional glimpse of a bruiser’s cockiness made for colorful upgrades in the IP machinery.After Ritchie’s return to leaner (but never in the dialogue) roots with the comically shaggy, seedy gangster wingding “The Gentlemen,” and reteaming with his best contribution to cinema — Jason Statham — for the brackish vengeance puddle “Wrath of Man,” the British filmmaker is once again aiming for sleek and starry heights with the spy-driven action comedy “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.”Statham is the “Fortune” of the title, first name Orson, an elite for-hire operative with clever ideas and expensive tastes, hired by intelligence agency rep Nathan (Cary Elwes) to determine who’s interested in a stolen package rumored to be worth $10 billion on the open market.

Whatever it is, whoever stole it, and whomever wants it, it can’t be good. But on top of that conundrum Orson is given a new coterie of experts – quick-witted tech ace Sarah (Plaza) and no-nonsense marksman JJ (Bugzy Malone) – and competition in the form of covert ops archrival Mike (Peter Ferdinando).That’s not a bad set-up for spook shenanigans, even if the first sequence of Orson’s and Mike’s teams vying for the same surveilled target doesn’t quite deliver memorable thrills or laughs.