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LIONSGATE

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Guy Ritchie
Cast:
Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Hugh Grant
Writing Credits:
Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies

Synopsis:
Special agent Orson Fortune and his team of operatives recruit one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars to help them on an undercover mission when the sale of a deadly new weapons technology threatens to disrupt the world order.

Box Office:
Budget
$50 million.
Opening Weekend
$3,140,214 on 2168 screens.
Domestic Gross
$6,496,125.

MPAA:
Rated R.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English Descriptive Audio
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 114 min.
Price: $19.99
Release Date: 5/16/2023

Bonus:
• “On a Wild Ride” Featurette
• “Aubrey Plaza’s Guide to Spying” Featurette
• “Anatomy of a Stunt” Featurette


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BDT220P Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre [Blu-Ray] (2023)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (July 25, 2023)

Filmmaker Guy Ritchie and actor Jason Statham first worked together on 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. For their fifth combined effort, we head to 2023’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.

Wealthy arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant) possesses deadly new technology. Special agent Orson Fortune (Statham) gets the assignment to deal with this development.

Fortune brings his team into this and he adds a new partner: movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett). This squad battles to fulfill their mission against dangerous odds.

When Ritchie and Statham last partnered, they did so via 2021’s Wrath of Man. Though also an action thriller, the two films offer wholly different experiences.

While Wrath brought a dark, brutal tale of revenge, Fortune provides a light romp. Granted, it earns its “R” rating via violence and language, so perhaps “light romp” implies something softer than what the film gives us.

Nonetheless, Fortune clearly doesn’t take itself very seriously. Whereas Wrath wanted to make a statement about human nature, Fortune just desires to give us a peppy secret agent tale.

Though this probably implies a James Bond vibe, Fortune actually fits better with the Mission: Impossible franchise. Fortune goes down a more comedic path than the fairly self-serious M:I flicks, but it nonetheless comes with a similar structure and approach.

Indeed, the Danny character pretty clearly comes as a stand-in for Tom Cruise. This gives Fortune a clever twist, though one it could probably better explore.

By that I mean Fortune might seem more enjoyable if it went with Danny as the main protagonist. Give the action-star-turned-agent concept the primary focus and I think the movie works better.

Nonetheless, Fortune still delivers a pretty involving affair. Statham seems a bit miscast as a secret agent chameleon, but he brings enough action hero chops to the role to overcome this concern.

A solid supporting cast helps, and Hartnett appears to delight in the chance to lampoon movie stars. Grant also seems to enjoy his shift to supporting roles, and Greg allows him the chance to gobble scenery with delightful abandon.

At no point does Fortune venture toward the realm of greatness, but it nonetheless entertains. Brisk and just clever enough, the movie becomes an enjoyable diversion.

Footnote: a funny tag appears early in the end credits.


The Disc Grades: Picture A-/ Audio B+/ Bonus C-

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a pretty high quality presentation.

Sharpness seemed solid. Virtually no softness materialized, so the shots offered nice clarity and delineation.

Jagged edges and shimmering failed to mar the presentation, and I also saw no edge haloes. Print flaws never popped up here.

In terms of palette, Fortune went down a standard amber and teal path. These choices don’t surprise, but they looked fine. As depicted, the colors came across in a positive manner.

Blacks seemed dark and tight, and low-light shots demonstrated generally nice smoothness, though they leaned a little dense at times. This turned into an appealing image.

Similar thoughts greeted the positive Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Man. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the soundfield offered a lot of chances for involving audio, and it took good advantage of them.

The channels created a strong sense of place and action. These allowed elements to appear in logical locations and move around the spectrum well.

Of course, audio quality appeared very good as well. Music was full and rich, while speech seemed crisp and concise.

Effects offered nice range and heft, with tight highs and warm lows. I felt the audio added a lot to the movie experience.

Three featurettes appear, and On a Wild Ride runs 18 minutes, 55 seconds. It offers notes from writer/director Guy Ritchie, supervising armorer Ian Edwards, producer/co-writer Ivan Atkinson, and actors Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant, Lourdes Fabares, and Bugzy Malone.

“Ride” looks at Ritchie’s approach to the material and the loose nature of the shoot, cast, characters and performances, locations and stunts/action. Though not a deep piece, “Ride” comes with some useful material.

Aubrey Plaza’s Guide to Spying goes for three minutes, 52 seconds and presents a ride through the set. Expect a comedic approach that offers amusement.

Lastly, Anatomy of a Stunt lasts three minutes, nine seconds. It features supervising location manager Ashton Radcliffe, stunt coordinator/fight coordinator Mark Mottram, stunt double Steve Jehu and actor Max Beesley.

As expected, this piece covers specifics about one of the movie’s action sequences. Though brief, it brings some good notes.

A decent take on the secret agent genre, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre never reinvents that wheel. Nonetheless, it delivers a brisk and fairly entertaining spectacle. The Blu-ray boasts strong picture and audio plus a smattering of supplements. Fortune flopped at the box office but it brings a fairly fun flick.

Viewer Film Ratings: 4 Stars Number of Votes: 3
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