Everyone is having a blast in Operation Fortune, by Guy Ritchie: Jason Statham, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant…

Jason Statham is at the height of cool and Aubrey Plaza manages to stand up to him in this very enjoyable spy thriller.

After playing and losing to the great Hollywood machinery (King Arthur: The Legend of Excalibur Or Aladdin…), Guy Ritchie returned in April 2023 to what it does best: over-the-top and cleverly packaged heist films. But on Prime Video, not in the cinema.

Style, cockney accent and uppercuts. This spy thriller, absurd and full of punchlines and mandals, arrives this Sunday on TF1. As in The Gentlemen, Operation Fortune: Ruse of War is therefore a succession of numbers by handsome kids or good actors (here Jason Statham, Cary Elwes And Eddie Marsan form his neo-Rat Pack) coming out of insanity casually, coolness slung over his shoulder and a smirk on his face. The punchlines and mandals are delivered to perfection, the settings are exotic as can be, and the action is explosive: everything is in its place.

Promises kept

Statham plays Orson Fortune, a spy for Her Majesty so gifted that the British government pampers him beyond reason. He travels on a private jet and only drinks vintage cabernet on the taxpayer’s dime. When a group of evil Ukrainians steals a formidable technological tool (if you don’t understand what it is, it doesn’t matter, it’s the famous MacGuffin), they will have to team up with a group of hotheads as rebellious as ‘hilarious. Together, they will hatch an absurd and outrageously insolent plan to recover the precious MacGuffin and in the process make fun of Hollywood and its little quirks.

Aubrey Plazareluctant and brilliant, proves to anyone who doubted that she could legitimately have her action franchise to her name, while Bugzy Malone is priceless. But the real stars of the film are Hugh Grant (Hollywood-obsessed arms dealer, definitely brilliant in a supporting role) and Josh Hartnett (the has-been action star who will serve as bait). Bones crack, cars and bad guys explode without consequence and for no reason. Somewhere between a Mission: Impossible degenerate and a James Bond Daniel Craig period, Operation Fortune delivers exactly what it promises, namely everything that we have already seen a thousand times but produced here with know-how and a science of cool that is never faulted.

Trailer:

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