Operation Mincemeat

Operation Mincemeat

In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.

  • Released: 2021-11-06
  • Runtime: 128 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History, War
  • Stars: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Johnny Flynn, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Jason Isaacs, Mark Gatiss, Hattie Morahan, Paul Ritter, Tom Wilkinson, Simon Russell Beale, Lorne MacFadyen, Markus von Lingen, Ruby Bentall, Alex Jennings, Ellie Haddington, Nicholas Rowe, Will Keen, Mark Bonnar, James Fleet, Alexander Beyer, Nico Birnbaum, Pep Tosar, Alba Brunet, Pedro Casablanc, Óscar Zafra, Javier Godino, Jonjo O'Neill, Amy Marston, Gabrielle Creevy, Simon Rouse, Paul Lancaster, Michael Bott, Charlotte Hamblin, Rufus Wright
  • Director: John Madden
 Comments
  • catnapbc - 8 April 2024
    Good start but falters
    Having read about and watched factual documentaries about this particular incident, I was hoping for something more than what I got here. Despite the presence of many solid and fine actors/actresses, the film stayed on track until the last 1/2 hr or so. At the point where the 'waiter' from the club confronts fake 'Pam'. Until then this adaptation was both believable and historically close to the truth, apart from the whole thing with the 'expert' pathologist from Madrid. Even the occasional humorous exchanges didn't take away from the serious nature of this real event. But there was just too much relationship chaos that came together and interfered with the main thrust of this successful deception that deserves more recognition and respect. Could have been far better if the writers had not veered off into other side stories. Not the worst production out there but not worth a second viewing.
  • movie-reviews-uk - 29 August 2023
    An easy watch while you do something else
    It takes some effort to turn a real-life WW2 tale of deception, spycraft and derring-do into a run of the mill film but "Operation Mincemeat" makes it look easy.

    At its core the story covers a remarkable sleight of hand where the Allies tried to convince Hitler that they wouldn't be invading Sicily. This wasn't easy because it was the obvious target and the Nazis were obviously on their guard. So the operation had to be borderline nuts while being obsessed by making every fictional detail as real as possible.

    This is a great story with the potential for real tension between the British trying to hide their deception and the Germans trying to uncover it at every step. Unfortunately this isn't what you get with "Operation Mincemeat".

    Instead there are numerous distracting subplots to do with a romance that never happened, a communist spy who existed but was unrelated to the plan and the heavy-handed suggestion that James Bond was born in this unlikely crucible.

    On the upside this does mean that you don't have to give much of your attention to the movie or worry about popping out for a comfort break. You won't miss anything and the actors will still be phoning in their performances when you return.
  • beanka-33183 - 26 April 2023
    Good!!!
    Truly excellent, the story of how deception played such a key part in the Allies victory. Uniformly terrific performances and a great plot, demonstrating the "Wilderness of mirrors" of intelligence work, you can never really be sure of what is real and what is not and have to continually balance one risk against another. The ruthlessness of when the corpse's sister shows up and you have to put your nobler feelings aside because what you're doing is so much more important than her grief at her brother's death, that if you don't carry on there will be thousands of more grieving siblings to mourn for. The heart-stopping scene where the German agent confronts the heroine and you have to consider whether or not to continue, not knowing if there really is an anti-Hitler faction in German intelligence or whether this is all a bluff to make her spill her guts (the fact that he leaves her alive suggests the former). The nagging fear of Communist infiltration which turn out to be 100% true with Philby, Burgess and co. The references to the true inspiration for the plot, ex-British Intelligence chief Basil Thomson (one of the prime architects of the IRA's defeat) and his story "The Milner's Hat'.
  • ktencommunicate - 7 January 2023
    Really good at times
    Was a fun movie for most of it - watching them come up with the plan and the required documents and other items) was great. I particularly loved all of the 'mental chess' type scenes where they are trying to guess how the German intelligence will react to everything and guess their moves a few steps in advance. I would give those scenes an 8 or 9 since I absolutely love that stuff.

    The love story side plot was kind of weak though and I was confused that it was included - perhaps it is because this actually happened during the planning? I just didn't really buy it and thought it should have been excluded or altered since it just didn't give any real payoff in the end.

    The acting was fine - nothing outstanding but good enough. Another thing I found interesting was the London Underground nightlife portrayed - I had never really thought of that whole scene during the war and I like when movies include those moments in historical events that aren't always shown in similar movies.

    I would give it an 7 if it wasn't for the (in my opinion) poorly handled romantic side plot. It definitely didn't ruin the film but made me wish they had done a few more cool 'espionage and counterintelligence discussion' scenes instead since that stuff was great.

    The Ian Fleming bits always teetered on ridiculous but thankfully they didn't go too far with it - and since he was literally there I can't judge it too much lol. But it did risk to ruin the movie had the writers done one or two more little winks to the 'this guy created James Bond!' thing.
  • cc-76862 - 28 November 2022
    Solid and well made
    This is a well executed film with a very interesting story behind it.

    The acting is strong, visuals solid (if somewhat uninspired) and for the most part the film is well paced. Personally I didn't have an issue with the side love plot but I do think it could have been improved with a bit more fleshing out - though without the expense of adding to the run time (which is already pushing it).

    There are a few questionable moments with scenes feeling out of place - even random at points. But overall the main core of the film really works with a strong ensemble and a clear, engaging story to absorb the viewer.
  • stefanchikm-2018 - 24 September 2022
    All you could ask for in a movie, and more!
    Really don't understand the mixed reviews of this film. It literally has everything: action, espionage, romance, and is based on actual historic events. And it has two Mr. Darcys (Firth and Macfayden)! And author Ian Fleming of James Bond fame is a character! It's funny how many books came out of this story. At one point someone says, "I'm surrounded by writers!" Hilarious. As you can tell, I greatly enjoyed this movie, and I highly recommend it!

    An extra bonus if you're a fan of World War II history or stories of British intelligence. Now I am going to look for some of the many books written about this event.
  • alex-galinsky - 13 August 2022
    Can you be more artificial and boring?
    I think they should start classifying movies not only with what is the minimum recommended age but also what's the maximum... I'd classify this one as max 20 y.o.

    What a megaboring, artificial, and disappointing display.