Despite all the cinematic evidence to the contrary, when I think about Jason Statham, what first comes to mind is not all his action films.  Instead, I remember him in Snatch (2000).  I suppose he could have played Irish boxer Mickey O’Neil (Brad Pitt) given everything Statham has been in since that movie.  Arguably, I am setting up an unfair comparison.  Snatch is a great motion picture, and my only complaint is that they did not have enough of the Catholic side of Mickey’s character.  At the same time, it is much more substantiative than anything Statham has done since that time.  Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023), with its confusing title, is one example of the usual we have come to expect from him, even if it is directed by Guy Ritchie.  Then again, Ritchie was also at the helm for Snatch.

The only thing is being snatched at the beginning of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is a device known as “The Handle.”  I am going to help you out at this point, which is something the film does not do for much of its run time: The Handle is an artificial intelligence (AI) mechanism that can control any computer, anywhere in the world.  For this reason, the British government contacts Nathan (Cary Elwes) to assemble a team to retrieve it from the Ukrainian mobsters that stole it.  After some discussion with Knighton (Eddie Marsan), the government contact, they settle on Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) as being the right person for the job.  This comes after some hemming and hawing over the peculiarities Orson requires in order to do any kind of work, which is mainly about keeping him in the lap of luxury.  Nathan finds the spy(?) at a posh resort and gives Orson the assignment.  Now it is Orson’s turn to choose the other two who will be on his team, though Nathan has suggestions.  The person Orson wants is Mike (Peter Ferdinando), a frequent colleague, but he is in the employ of the competition.  Because of Mike’s lack of availability, Nathan puts forward American hacker Sarah (Aubrey Plaza).  The other is J.J. (Bugzy Malone), somebody who seems to combine Orson’s brute force and Sarah’s technical knowhow.  Now assembled, they begin tracking the case thought to contain The Handle in a Madrid airport.  What they uncover is a hard drive housing data from the device, which is taken by Mike’s men before too long.  Yet, they are able to learn where a potential sale is going to take place.  Going there, they encounter Ben Harris (Max Beesley), the personal lawyer for the infamous weapons dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant).  This adds a bit more gravitas to the proceedings.  Since they learn that Greg is on his way to Cannes, Nathan’s group decide they need a famous movie star in order to gain Greg’s trust in the French film capital.  With that in mind, they essentially force Hollywood A-lister Danny (Josh Hartnett) to travel to Europe to be their cover.  Once there, they gain access to Greg’s boat where he is hosting a party with the Ukrainians and a number of other people who mingle in such company.  Everyone is awed by Danny’s presence, including Greg, who invites Danny and Sarah, posing as Danny’s girlfriend, to visit his estate.  In between all of this, there is a repetitive cycle of putting one technology near another piece of technology, the one hacking into the other, and getting the information needed to proceed to the next plot point.  This is how we eventually discover what The Handle can actually do, and where Greg intends to make the sale.  Orson goes to disrupt the transaction, with J.J. providing cover, and Sarah making sure the money does not make it to its intended target.  As all this is taking place, Mike and his cabal swoop in on helicopters and take The Handle for themselves.  Also, Greg’s assistant, Emilia (Lourdes Faberes), sniffs out the spying Sarah and the rest are doing, causing Danny and Sarah to make a hasty getaway.  However, this is not the end of the story, unfortunately.  Orson gets everyone together and returns to Greg’s estate where they force the arm’s dealer to help them get to where Mike is planning a global economic meltdown using The Handle.  Because Sarah had been able to recover data that proves some of Greg’s shady dealings, he agrees to be of assistance.  As for Danny, he has become enamored of Greg as a character, hoping to play the arm’s dealer in a movie.  Any money to be made from the situation will be donated to a charity for war orphans.  They all go to where Mike is meeting with the creators of The Handle in order to have them trigger the monetary catastrophe previously mentioned.  However, they turn on each other after they realize Greg could bomb their loves ones, and that they no longer need one another.  By the time Orson arrives on the scene, all that is left is Mike, who is quickly defeated.  Job apparently done, Orson hands the device to Nathan and the team walks away to a longer than expected vacation.

As J.J., Orson, and Sarah walk away at the end of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, I expected Nathan to pull a gun on them.  That is how all these spy movies go, right?  There is always somebody working for the other side, and that person has to be dealt with before the film ends.  None of that happens.  It is a straight forward action flick with a touch of spy craft.  Indeed, I am a little more out of sorts than usual as to what to say about this movie from a Catholic perspective.  I did not take a single note while watching it, meaning nothing specific stood out about it according to Faith.  I suppose its straightforwardness is something, even if it is about people who are trained to lie.  My friend with whom I was watching it remarked on its relative lack of violence up until the end, at which point the blood is ratcheted up a few degrees.  As such, I could say that, while such combativeness is never ideal, at least they are trying to prevent something terrible from happening?  Then again, the Bible is clear that the ends do not justify the means.  There is such a thing as a “just war,” but that needs to be understood in the most limited of senses.  In any case, that is not what is happening here.  I know there are those who will say that preventing possible widespread pain and suffering is good, and that those who die can be called the “bad guys.”  Yet, does God look at any person as the “bad guy.”  The answer is no, and that is because He will give everyone as many chances as needed at redemption.  Finally, Greg is a problem because he fits into the naughty category, but is a sympathetic character at the end.  It would be one thing if he were more reformed minded, like Christians hopefully are, but that is not the case.

What is the case is that there is little value in watching Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.  It did have some things going for it, like Ritchie and Plaza.  Otherwise, there is nothing here that you have not already viewed in a bunch of other flicks.