My mom and I went to the movies on Saturday and weren’t immediately drawn to anything in particular. I hadn’t seen Creed II and therefore didn’t want to invest in Creed III (also sometimes boxing movies can be tough, yeesh). I hadn’t heard anything promising about the latest Ant-Man movie (sorry, Paul Rudd) and Cocaine Bear was not exactly the vibe. But we stumbled upon something with an incredibly vague title called Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.

I feel like action movies get a bad rap sometimes. These days they can be a little gruesome, overly violent, or overly serious. But good action movies are just FUN. And that’s just what Operation Fortune was. Let’s talk plot.

First of all, let us all give a round of applause to the return of Cary Elwes, a sort of special services liaison working on behalf of the UK to sort out international conflict fast. Learning of a theft that could impact global government, he recruits the help of Orson Fortune (yes that’s really his name) played by the suavest Jason Stathom, and a few others to figure out what the nature of the stolen object is and how they can get it back. The rest of the story unfolds as they befriend a big-deal arms dealer (played stunningly against type by Hugh Freakin’ Grant) and enlist the help of a Hollywood celebrity (another round of applause for the beautifully aged Josh Hartnett!).

I feel it necessary to note that the characters kept saying “ruse de guerre” throughout the movie (honestly thought they were saying “rules de guerre”??). Full disclosure, “ruse de guerre” just means, like, a deception in the name of war. Which, like, okay, the movie’s entire plot kind of hinges on one big deception that they present to Hugh Grant’s character. But still. Felt a little forced to this American. Maybe it makes more sense in England.

I also didn’t know this was directed by Guy Ritchie. But once the credits started rolling it was like oooooooohhhhhhh, that makes sense. Guy Ritchie has a great way of orchestrating action movies that isn’t overly simple but also isn’t overly complicated. I feel like he really prioritizes FUN, which, again, is part of what makes action movies so appealing. For example, I would say about half of the movie is tense action in the name of national safety, but the other half is this motley crew of a team getting themselves out of unexpected jams in a way that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Every character is hilarious in their own way. Also, I mean, Aubrey Plaza is in this, so come on.

Operation Fortune, structurally, was also kind of a throwback to simpler times in a lot of ways. Ritchie doesn’t overthink body counts, they just further the plot. We’re not privy to any extreme nastiness, despite the fact that this team is messing with a legit warlord. I kept waiting for the movie to get Too Serious and wade into deeper waters, but I was pleasantly surprised by its willingness to attack the task at hand and keep everything pretty light and fun. And, honestly, even when the team’s Plan got kind of complicated (again, good action doesn’t play it too simple), in the end it doesn’t really matter. We get a solid ending that doesn’t throw in any weird curveballs or take away from audience satisfaction.

All in all, a solid offering and a nice break from heavy-hitting action or overly-dependent-on-CGI action that I feel like permeates the present. 7 outa 10.

Come for Aubrey Plaza’s weird humor and Jason Stathom’s cool, stay for Hugh Grant’s uncharacteristic accent and Josh Hartnett’s full dedication to being a panicked actor.