Operation Fortune – The Big Scam is a hell of a fun action-comedy that thankfully doesn’t want to be more.
Guy Ritchie has so far brought us films such as Bluff, Gentlemen, Sherlock Holmes or A Really Angry Man, so of course we expected his latest work to be full of action and pumpkin, especially since Jason Statham is the main character – but this luckily, we got more, because in some places there are such hard-hitting remarks in this work that we are also surprised by how much laughter they can get out of us.
Operation Fortune – The big con is about the latest mission of an agent named Orson Fortune (Jason Statham), who can be considered a dorkier version of James Bond, during which he has to recover a mysterious, extremely valuable “something” that could pose a serious threat. Together with his team, during the mission they surround a billionaire (Hugh Grant) who limps in evil, but in order to succeed in the operation, they must also involve a world-famous actor (Josh Hartnett), who sees the secret mission as the role of his life.
You can already guess from the description that this movie is full of funny scenes, which are mainly related to the characters hiding and pretending to be someone else. Guy Ritchie turned the humor up a bit here, but luckily he didn’t take it back from the action either, so we can see a couple of times how Jason Statham goes at his opponents of different sizes with the power of a tank – only now, exceptionally, he also cracks 1-2 jokes while doing so.
Jason Statham is surprisingly funny in this movie, you can feel that he didn’t take himself seriously at all, and he knows exactly how ridiculous his grumpy expression is in certain situations. Of course, the action scenes come from his gut, he delivers brutal blows when necessary, so his fans will not be disappointed in his performance – in fact, it is mostly thanks to him that the creation is so entertaining.
The story itself isn’t overly complicated, and that’s probably because the whole movie is pretty gutless. We could even call it a decent industrial work, but Guy Ritchie’s touch still raises it a little above the average, because no one can better combine jerk humor, snappy action and a distinctly cool style than him – in other words, on the whole, Fortune is a bit empty, but it’s fun as hell operation – The big scam.
Hugh Grant’s brilliant performance should be emphasized, because he plays the billionaire with such pleasure that we love and hate him at the same time. One of the virtues of the film is that it is directly sexist a couple of times, but only to bring these prejudices to their knees with a well-aimed slap afterwards – moreover, in a way that never seems forced or discredited.
Actually, there is nothing outstanding in this film, it cannot be called particularly special, but it all comes together nicely, everything is in its place, and therefore in the end it definitely gives the viewer a good experience. Of course, this also requires that we don’t have high expectations, we just want a simple action comedy that gives us a good laugh – and it also doesn’t hurt if we find it funny when someone reacts to something with a tasty swear word.
Operation Fortune – The Big Scam shows that Jason Statham can be funny in the middle of the usual jerky toughs, this movie has become one of the action hero’s most entertaining creations. Guy Ritchie maintains a perfect balance of action, humor and style, meaning that anyone who likes his movies or just wants a simple relaxation will not be disappointed in this work.
The film has plenty of flaws, as the makers often throw away logic, but thanks to the characters, the work is filled with life and humor, so the end result is very lovable and pleasant. We hope that there will be a sequel, because it would be nice to see Jason Statham again as the always annoying Orson Fortune.
