Operation Mincemeat Review: Colin Firth War Drama Is Diverting & Forgettable
Turning on Operation Mincemeat — the kind of star-studded, adult-oriented, mid-range drama that studios don't frequently greenlight nowadays — can feel like a form of defiance at a time when the latest Marvel film is stomping its way through the box office. While british consumers can buy a ticket instead of doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, most American viewers will have to wait in line at home. However, thinking about the viewing experience in those opposing terms can actually help it. It's unlikely to elicit strong, polarised reactions on its own.
Operation Mincemeat is a solid film to which only mild reactions are appropriate. On one end of the spectrum, a little smile and a nod of approval; on the other, a tilt of the head and a dismissive shrug. Someone who watches it out of a desire to make a statement about the entertainment industry and sees themselves as part of a community of like-minded rebels may be the only way it has of creating a lasting impression on their mind.
Director john Madden's Operation Mincemeat is based on a true World war II military operation in which british Military Intelligence convinced Nazi germany that the Allies were intending to invade greece instead of Sicily by stuffing a body with bogus paperwork and beaching it on the Spanish coast. Colin Firth's Ewen Montagu, a Naval officer who accepts the assignment after his wife and children flee to America, and Matthew Macfadyen's Charles Cholmondeley, a lonely bachelor eager to step out from under the shadow of his recently fallen, war-hero brother, are in charge of leading the insane scheme.
Is this meant to emphasise Madden's film's lack of Bondness, and hence laud MI5's banal, life-saving reality? Is it to position operations like Operation Mincemeat as a way for the creatively inclined to make a significant contribution to the war effort? Is rapping a glitzy blockbuster franchise on the knuckles for twisting the truth more critical? Instead, it feels like the film is winking at the audience, and the end result of treating these references like cameos brings Operation Mincemeat closer to a Marvel film than anyone could have expected. After all, watching it might not be such a revolutionary act.
Operation Mincemeat is a solid film to which only mild reactions are appropriate. On one end of the spectrum, a little smile and a nod of approval; on the other, a tilt of the head and a dismissive shrug. Someone who watches it out of a desire to make a statement about the entertainment industry and sees themselves as part of a community of like-minded rebels may be the only way it has of creating a lasting impression on their mind.
Director john Madden's Operation Mincemeat is based on a true World war II military operation in which british Military Intelligence convinced Nazi germany that the Allies were intending to invade greece instead of Sicily by stuffing a body with bogus paperwork and beaching it on the Spanish coast. Colin Firth's Ewen Montagu, a Naval officer who accepts the assignment after his wife and children flee to America, and Matthew Macfadyen's Charles Cholmondeley, a lonely bachelor eager to step out from under the shadow of his recently fallen, war-hero brother, are in charge of leading the insane scheme.
Is this meant to emphasise Madden's film's lack of Bondness, and hence laud MI5's banal, life-saving reality? Is it to position operations like Operation Mincemeat as a way for the creatively inclined to make a significant contribution to the war effort? Is rapping a glitzy blockbuster franchise on the knuckles for twisting the truth more critical? Instead, it feels like the film is winking at the audience, and the end result of treating these references like cameos brings Operation Mincemeat closer to a Marvel film than anyone could have expected. After all, watching it might not be such a revolutionary act.