‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre’ review: Spy comedy sputters
2019’s “The Gentlemen,” he’d have the usually dapper Hugh Grant play a sleazy journalist who refers to England only as “Angleterre” in an East End accent, and in 2021’s “Wrath of Man” he showcased frequent collaborator Jason Statham’s ability to switch from hilarious to killing machine.With this director, we’re never so much watching an espionage or crime movie as enjoying another off-the-rails Guy Ritchie attraction. That is, until “Operation Fortune,” the co-writer and director’s most uninspired movie in a minute. Lazily bopping around to exotic locales like Cannes, France, Antalya, Turkey, and Doha, Qatar, it’s a generic collage of mega-yachts, luxe hotels, fancy parties, disguised identities and tame fights that add up to a big nothing.Worry not about your blood pressure at “Ruse de guerre.” One chase scene in sunny Antalya, with actor Max Beesley on a vespa, is downright soothing.