They are undoubtedly among the most masculine of all Hollywood stars at the moment: Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson. The former first wowed audiences as Superman in the DC Extended Universe, then as the witcher Geralt von Riva in the Netflix fantasy series ‘The Witcher’. The other is currently flexing his muscles in the Amazon megahit “Reacher”. However, Ritchson has also appeared in the DC universe: as Aquaman in “Smallville”.
Their muscular looks and DC past are not the only things they have in common, however, as they are soon to be seen side by side as particularly cunning members of a very special special unit of the British army during the Second World War. In ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ by director Guy Ritchie, they spit in Adolf Hitler’s soup.
Based on the bestseller of the same title by author and war correspondent Damien Lewis, the film revolves around the top-secret Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up by Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself. The methods used by the men and women of this special unit were unheard of at the time, because unlike other units, sabotage, deception, assassination and infiltration were on the SOE’s agenda. Using unorthodox means, their task was to create chaos behind enemy lines and – as Churchill aptly described it – “set Europe on fire”. The special unit was soon nicknamed the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
While “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” was released in the USA on April 19, 2024 – and was not particularly well received – fans were left in the dark about the OTT release. It was highly unusual for a film by Guy Ritchie starring some of the hottest names in Hollywood at the moment not to be given a release date. The reason: Amazon had secured the international rights – which is exactly where the film will soon be available to watch. To celebrate, the streaming service unveiled a trailer:
“The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”: Director Guy Ritchie pulls out all the stops
British filmmaker Guy Ritchie has developed a great appetite for spectacularly staged action in recent years: After “Cash Truck” and “Operation Fortune”, he delivered a slick war movie with “Guy Ritchie’s The Pact”, which you can stream exclusively on Amazon. With “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, he deepens his acquired knowledge of important historical events during the Second World War.
And he and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (“The Rock”) have gathered a damn illustrious cast around them, including Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Eiza González, Cary Elwes, Freddie Fox, Babs Olusanmokun and Til Schweiger. “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” will be available on Amazon Prime Video on July 25, 2024.
If you don’t want to wait that long, the fantastically directed series “Masters of the Air” by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, a follow-up to the classic series “Band of Brothers”, has just been launched on Apple TV+.