Audacity, determination and funny gloominess – these are the three best words that describe the work of Guy Ritchie. And now he is channeling the same energy again into his brand new spy action comedy, which he directs and writes with his own hand. His latest project, Operation Fortune: The Art of Winning, is another round-the-world adventure of spies who seek to save the world using their own crazy ways. Overall, the movie is pretty formulaic and the makers are clearly more about entertaining the audience than anything else.
Judging by the style of the script, which was leached from classic action films in the format of the James Bond movie epic, the movie directed by Ritchie perfectly reveals his take on the craft of espionage. Despite the apparent lack of tension, with everyone having fun with whiskey and soda, the resulting yet another creation of a successful director with inherent wit and intriguing events guarantees a great time at the movie show.
What is Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre about?
When a Ukrainian criminal group, actively engaged in illegal business in Foggy Albion, steals a device code-named “Instrument”, which contains information very valuable to the British government, it, in the person of Nathan Jasmine, hires a former spy, and now an experienced swindler, Orsen Fortune, to assembled a team to recover the stolen object.
No one knows exactly what it contains, but its multi-billion dollar value is known. Most of all, however, the authorities fear that the mysterious item will be sold as part of a deal brokered by international arms dealer Greg Symmonds, who operates under a personal charity for war orphans, vainly calling it by his own name.
Except Nathan uses Fortune as little as possible for a very good reason. This is especially demanding: due to his claustrophobia, Orsin only flies in spacious private jets that are only allowed to serve the finest vintage wines due to his “medical needs”. Not to mention his fee – and after each mission for relaxation, there is also an extensive luxury stay in one of the best 5-star hotels.
Simply put, Fortune costs the intelligence service a fortune, but he is also their best man keeping the British safe. Be that as it may, and this time there is no other way out.
Unable to work alone and unable to enlist his regular colleagues to help him complete his mission, Fortune hires sexy cybertech specialist Sarah Fadel and communications expert Jay Davis, who are also gun savvy. Since neither of them have worked on the same team before, they will have to learn how to get along with each other.
First, they convince gun dealer Danny Fracesco’s favorite movie star to join them at a fundraiser in Cannes. So the team sets out to infiltrate Symmonds’ party on a yacht on the French Riviera, grabbing movie star Danny along the way. Keeping a veil of secrecy over what the smuggler looks like on the outside, unspecified for much of the film’s run time, can work in a way that can create tension through an elaborately structured plot. As the action moves to Turkey after that, Fortune and his hilarious group have to make sure Danny’s cover doesn’t blow, as well as track down a dreaded weapon.
This ruse allows them to receive an invitation to spend the weekend with Simmonds at his Turkish villa and gives them the opportunity to get hold of the stolen device. However, another group of ruthless villains suddenly appears on the horizon, pursuing the same goal.
The meaning of the film “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre”
The spy story of the film is rather convoluted. Just as Fortune is thinking of taking a break, a deadly new weapon technology is stolen, and so he reluctantly returns to his usual business of fixing the situation and cleaning up the tracks of screwed-up officials and the military.
Known for his high level of service and disregard for administrative protocol, Fortune sets to work with an unconventional plan and a nimble team of tech-savvy partners who know how to splurge and outsmart the enemy. For the time being, they report to Nathan, their cunning recruiter, who makes big bets that this team will deliver the “goods”.
Nobody knows what is in the briefcase stolen in Odessa, who has it and who needs it. There are more villains than those who want to save the day, but it is difficult to determine and say who the main buyer is and who is really pulling the strings of the whole game. Given the time of the action, the billionaire Simmonds, although a big player, is just a broker working for a huge conglomerate of underground smugglers.
In addition, another spy team led by Fortune’s longtime rival Mike is on the hunt for the perfect weapon. Unfortunately, this time the opponents are out of control, which greatly complicates the timely execution of the operation.
However, Fortune and company have their own “wild card”. The role goes to fictional Hollywood star Danny Fracesco, who, unlike the others, is not a volunteer recruit. He is only participating in this trip around the world because, firstly, he is the favorite actor of the secret object bidder, and secondly, British intelligence has incriminating footage of his perverted pleasures with his own half-sister, which he would prefer to hide from the public.
Of course, Fortune, who never misses a chance to hit the jackpot, insists that this ploy could be Fracesco’s greatest role to date. Although he is extremely irritable, fortunately for everyone, Simmonds is a big narcissist, and he happily invites the actor to be a guest at his latest ego-worshipping event. Now all that needs to be done by a squad of motley characters is the most trifling thing – to save the whole world from financial disaster.
Explanation of the ending of the film “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre”
Fortune infiltrates the Ukrainian mafia’s home in the city to hack into their computers and disguise it as a robbery. The British government is urging Nathan to warn that the “Tool” is actually a highly advanced artificial intelligence that can be remotely used to hack every secure security system anywhere in the world. Having learned through the data in the laptop that the deal will be held in Turkish, the agents go straight there.
While Simmonds is showing Fracesco a script outline of his life, Jay and Fortune find a “mole” in the Turkish government and realize that Mike’s people are after someone named Ben Haris. He ends up dying in the fight. Given that Harris is supposed to represent Simonds at the auction, Fortune takes his place, and Fadel uses a computer program to hide his vote.
The exchange goes awry when Fortune is recognized by a Ukrainian security guard involved in the Cannes robbery. Before the Simmonds can figure out what they’re doing, Fadel and Jay escape the Simmonds’ mansion while Mike attacks the deal, killing everyone except Fortune, and steals the “Tool”.
Nathan informs the team that Mike has not been hired by any official agency. His employer is an unknown person. With no information about the recipient, Fortune offers to talk to Simmonds: despite the problems the team has caused him, Simmonds is willing to help. He tells them that the buyers are big biotechs Arnold and Trent, who are planning to use the “Tool” to cause a global financial crash, buy up the gold and then get rich off it, so after all that has happened it will be the only stable economic asset in the world.
The final skirmish leads to the death of both the true customers and Mike himself, who decided to take the “Tool” into his own hands. After the successful completion of the case, Nathan offers to work on another assignment, but the company decides to go on vacation. In the end, it turns out where the money went that the merchants managed to transfer at the time of the transaction. It turns out that the cunning Simmonds once again fooled everyone, and now he is going to shoot the very film about himself, where Danny will play him.
Ultimately, great chase sequences, impressive fistfights, a bit of technical ingenuity, and escalating intrigue provide plenty of reasons to enjoy the action and recruiting a few intriguing characters.
