Rent Operation Mincemeat (2021)

This meat is off. - Operation Mincemeat review by cr

I was looking forward to this as i saw the documentary by ben macintyre who has also written a book.

But i agree with the other reviewers this is a fairly thin story stretched over 2 hours. Very interesting as an hours documentary but not as a feature. There is no action or dramatic tension and was all a bit slow. Shame

A very well-made war film that tells a captivating WWII espionage story - Operation Mincemeat review by Philip in Paradiso

The film is a classic of the genre, in the sense that it is conventionally and scrupulously made: it is a war film about intelligence work, focused on WWII, and does not try to innovate in any way. In that sense, it could be criticized for its lack of ambition but, given the story it intends to tell, which is extraordinary in and of itself, and as it manages to tell that story well and faithfully, I think the movie works, and works well.

Operation Mincemeat was put in place by British intelligence in tandem with the military in order to deceive the Germans: the aim was to make the Nazis believe, in 1943, that the Allies would attempt a large-scale landing of Allied troops in Greece, so that the Germans would reinforce their defences and troop levels in Greece when, in actual fact, the Allies intended to land a large force in Sicily, with a view to liberating Italy. (Indeed, the invasion of Sicily followed.) Central to the Mincemeat hoax was a dead body that was to wash up on a Spanish beach - Spain was officially neutral during WWII but full of German and other spies. The dead body, notionally that of a Royal Marines officer, would carry - fake - confidential documents pointing to an imminent Allied invasion of Greece. The Germans were meant to find the body or, at the very least, be given the documents by the Spanish authorities. Operation Mincemeat was, in many ways, far-fetched and implausible, and yet it was rolled out quickly.

The film is very good in that it shows in detail how the fake story of the Royal Marines officer, Major William Martin, was put together, step by step, by British intelligence, and how difficult to implement on so many levels the plan was. The acting is very good, with some first-class actors such as Jason Isaacs and Colin Firth, among others. Supporting roles are very good too: the drunken Scottish racing driver, who really existed, is excellent, for instance. The atmosphere of war-time London is reconstituted very well and feels real.

The film works very well but is not, however, a masterpiece. At times, it plods along a little bit, although it is never boring, in my view. Also, some secondary sub-plots have been inserted into the main narrative in order to spice it up, such as the part played by Jean Leslie, and this distracts from the main storyline, but it also enhances it in other ways. Overall, I would recommend the film and feel it is a very good movie. I want to see 'The Man Who Never Was', now, the 1956 film that 'Mincemeat' is a remake of, which I have never seen. I feel it might be as good as 'Mincemeat', and perhaps better, in fact.

Solid - Operation Mincemeat review by sb

Solid old fashioned British War movie based on the real life deception of the film's title.

Its the Spring of 1943 and Churchill has agreed to the invasion of Sicily as the first major target to re-take Europe. Except its such a glaringly obvious target that the German Army will be waiting for them.

A plot is hatched by Motague (Firth) and Cholmondeley (Macfayden) to have a British Marine Officer washed up on the Spanish coast will plans for a full scale invasion of Greece and hope the German's fall for it.

Their superior Godfrey (Issacs) is very sceptical but Churchill gives his approval so a whole fictious backstory is cooked up with history and love letters to convince the Germans that he is real. This involves Jean (Macdonald) who becomes Pam the imaginary girlfriend of the dead body.

He is dumped at sea but things don't go to plan in that they assumed the Spanish would hand over all the documents to the Germans but by a conveluted route the documents are returned to London...

But have the seals been broken and then re-sealed and if so by the Germans? or they unaware of the whole ruse and the invasion is doomed to failure?

Of course we all know how it turned out but the build up and tension are well maintained.

The major drawback is that by playing the parts of the lovers both Firth and MacDonald find they have feelings for each other and this enranges Macfayden who also has feelings for her.

This does take up far too much of the film - ok it can be in there but it really does slow the whole narrative - and there are just too many sub-plots going.

There are some nice touches -one of the team is Ian Fleming (Flynn) with some additions to the deception provided by Q Division and a lot of people seem to writing spy novels and the whole plot becomes a novel in progress.

That said its solid story and performances with a very old fashioned feel to it - its the kind of film you would wach as a kid with your Dad on a wet Sunday afternoon - so overall (soapy romantic sun-plot aside) 4/5

The Man who Nevere Was - Operation Mincemeat review by CSF

'Operation Mince Meat' is a remake of 'The Man Who Never Was', 1956. I got confused because I thought the old version was to convince Hitler that the D Day was not in Normandy but in Calais. However I prefer the old version. It is more dramatic, more emotional. I found 'Operation MM', a bit cold, somehow mechanical.

In the same type of story, there is a 1994 film called 'Fortitude', telling how British Intelligence sacrificed the life of one of their female spies by giving her a fake secret, arranging her arrestation in France by the Germans, thinking and hoping that she would talk under torture. She didn't. This film by Waris Hussein has vanished! It was a great film. I recommend the book by Larry Collins

Fooling the Germans - Operation Mincemeat review by NO

The first 10 mins of scenes with his wife could be cut.They could have started with the 20 committee thus shortening the film which was overlong.Dull at first but got better.

The Mcintyre book is is excellent but this brings a love triangle into it which is not needed.Well acted .

Deadly dull - Operation Mincemeat review by na

I read Ben MacIntyre's book, on which the film is based, and couldn't put it down. So I was looking forward to watching the film. However it's dull, dour and downright boring. Despite a sterling cast it just doesn't carry the excitement and suspense of the book. There was too much emphasis on the romantic elements, which weren't the main feature of the book, and too little emphasis on the execution of the intricately planned and very successful deception. The arrival of the body in Spain and the subsequent events in Germany are given very little film time (or perhaps I'd fallen asleep by then!).

Sunday night TV fare - Operation Mincemeat review by Alphaville

Even if you don’t already know the story from the celebrated 1956 film The Man Who Never Was, the trailer will tell you anyway. That leaves a film that has little to do but go through the motions, retelling the story with barely a surprise along the way. You can predict every beat as the stiff-upper-lipped Brits devise their elaborate plan (yes, Colin Firth is present and correct). It’s padded out with titbits to give the main characters some backstory, but that merely bogs the drama down even more. All of this turns an extraordinary real-life wartime episode into a peculiarly unmoving viewing experience. Even worse, there’s a pointless voiceover and a laughable climactic clapping scene, presumably for the benefit of transatlantic viewers.