The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Guy Ritchie is a director we see a lot of films from, but at least for me, I don’t see a lot of people mentioning the variety of his work. From crime capers like Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, or The Gentlemen to historical (using the term loosely) fare like King Arthur (something I liked despite it getting 0 praise…) to war films like The Covenant (an underseen excellent film), Ritchie excels at making medium scale films. Even when hes given bigger budgets for films like Sherlock Holmes or The Man from U.N.C.L.E., you can tell Ritchie is making movies he’d probably love to watch too. They are crowd pleasing, fun and never boring. So how does The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (or TMOUW) stack up to the rest of his films? Find out below and order yourself a copy by clicking the cover art at the end!
Film 
From director Guy Ritchie (The Gentlemen) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick), this high-octane, history-changing story inspired author Ian Fleming to write the postwar James Bond spy novels. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare stars Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), Eiza González (Baby Driver), Alan Ritchson (Fast X), Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four), Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds), with Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride). Directed and co-written by Guy Ritchie, this action-comedy tells the incredible true story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming. The top secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks led by Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill), goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately, the task force’s audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern black ops warfare.
TMOUW opens with a title card saying, “based on a true story.” And just like most films baring this card, the story may be true, but the film is very obviously loosely based. The main story itself is very interesting because it goes over warfare and the fighting techniques of Gus March-Phillips and all his team as they go on their Nazi hunt. There are obvious stylistic choices and casting changes to make the film more palatable for modern audiences and that’s to be expected. The film does retain a style Ritchie has been using for a while, which feels luxe and stylish (think Operation Fortune), while retaining a bit of the grit from earlier films like Sherlock Holmes. There are a lot of characters in TMOUW and I wasn’t always clear on their development, and even now, having watched the film more than once for the clarity of this review, I can’t tell you every character’s name. I don’t know if this is just me or if I just need to pay closer attention (get your $h*& together, Adam!), but I found it confusing to have missed that information.
What The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare does have is great action. The film flows with an excellent pace and action pieces look amazing and move with precision. There is a great balance between those faster sequences and the more talky moments. This is something Ritchie has always been able to convey, but in these later films, you see a mastery of the idea. The acting in the film is also excellent, with each headlining star giving a full commitment to their character.
Do I think this is top tier Guy Ritchie? Not necessarily, but that doesn’t make the film bad. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare features strong performances, direction and storylines. The film was released in April of 2024 and by the second week of May, the film was already available for streaming. The unfortunate thing about this for me is that it feels like not even the studio had faith that this film would work theatrically. I remember a time when a film like this was a major treat — something people sought out when they weren’t looking for the biggest film out in theaters, but still a trip to the cinema for a little escape. This film has all the makings of a hit film in another time, and as it stands now, sits as an unfortunate reminder of how people view films nowadays and how quality films like this are just overshadowed by lesser entertainment, or saved for home viewing. One can only wish that a good film like this gets its due some other way. I can say the same for some other Guy Ritchie films and for me, that’s a disappointing thing.
Video
- Encoding: HEVC/H.265
- Resolution: 4K
- Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
- HDR: HDR10
- Clarity/Detail: TMOUW arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray with an exceptional HDR10 presentation. While I have been becoming a snob for Dolby Vision, especially on new releases, I am happy to report that this particular film looks spectacular at home. With razor sharp crispness and clarity, there is no way you’d mistake TMOUW as anything other than an excellent 4K presentation
- Depth: Camera movements present the real and CGI makeup of set pieces with lots of optimal focus and care. There are no moments where depth of field struggle, and the overall look of the film is polished and focused on clarity over everything.
- Black Levels: Deep blacks penetrate the look of the film with all details present and accounted for even in the darkest of the dark.
- Color Reproduction: Vivid colors are ever present from the first moments of the film. Be it the ultra-blue ocean, the fiery reds of, well, fire, and any other color you can imagine, there is a color pop that modern films have, just like this one, that are truly pleasing to the eye.
- Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are as natural as can be.
- Noise/Artifacts: None
Audio
- Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish
- Dynamics: I’ll keep it simple – This is a modern mix with a modern sound design. The atmospherics are immersive, but they sound like static sound effects and not ones that move from speaker to speaker. No matter, because the Atmos mix is still a crowd pleaser. Loud, authoritative and busy, you’d be hard pressed to criticize the mix.
- Height: Height channels present static activity and are in use for the majority of the film.
- Low Frequency Extension: The LFE usage in the film is also nearly constant, with music, explosions, gun fire, sea noise and other action beats pounding the floorboards.
- Surround Sound Presentation: The surround channels move the action along with busy activity in action sequences as well as more active non-action moments.
- Dialogue Reproduction: Clean
Extras 
Features for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare are the one place where this 4K UHD Blu-ray release does not excel. The sole feature, The Ministry of Filmmaking is spare at best, with a theatrical trailer included as well. There is the traditional O-Card Slipcover release as well as a steelbook release with the same discs inside.
Summary
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is not the film that we deserve these days. Nobody went to see it, and frustratingly, it’s a quality film that I wish more eyes had made a pass over. I had fun in the world of Guy Ritchie’s WWII, and I think others would too if they have the chance. You can’t beat a film that has action, comedy, twists and a ton of good-looking actors in tow. This 4K Blu-ray edition is excellent technically and the film is worth seeing to say the least. My colleague Aaron Neuwirth provided his own take that can be read here. He is far more articulate than I am, and his words only elevate what I have put into this review.
