Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre

Flashy but hollow...

With a shoes-clicking-on-marble start that’s pure Burn After Reading, and some saucy surveillance games that reminded me of Sneakers, Ritchie plans his menu with familiar ingredients.

The film is mostly content to watch Statham perform some nifty beat-downs before introducing us to a scene-and-movie-stealing Hugh Grant... as a buffoonish arms dealer apparently slathered in Donald Trump’s fake tan.

Riper than the ripest of ripe Brie, this crime caper provides a ridiculous vehicle for the talents of pretty much everyone involved, all of whom appear to be having a splendid time.

For the most part, this is a fun time at the movies. There’s laughter, action, and movie stars playing to their strengths. It’s exactly what audiences expect to see from Ritchie and that’s its main selling point.

Classic recent Ritchie: star-studded, snarky, and ultimately grating, lousy with weird glasses and bad accents. This thing is so slight, a Xerox of a Xerox of a Xerox of a “Mission: Impossible” that it’s barely a movie.

Guy Ritchie fun with a cast of fun characters! 
Aubrey Plaza steals the show

...what makes Operation Fortune feel like a less intensive but a lot funnier Mission Impossible-type adventure is Ritchie’s ability to apply his macho humor and the gimmicky visual stylishness that became his trademark over the years.

More like John Le Carre: Operation Bankrupt as Ritchie can never tap into Statham's knack for humor, lets Josh Hartnett flail about and, worst of all, hangs Aubrey Plaza out to dry to figure out for herself if she is playing legit or parody.

Operation Fortune finds Guy Ritchie sticking with what he knows best, even if the end result suggests that he might be losing some of his mojo.