In the context of WW2 narratives, the story of Operation Mincemeat is unique a bizarre and seductive cinematic blend of high-level espionage and ingenious fiction, where the stakes could hardly be higher. Michelle Ashford's script fuses multiple strands and moods: tense, romantic, thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and endlessly surprising. It tells a richly human story of the soldiers we seldom see, who fight a different kind of war in shadows and deception, haunted by the knowl... (Full plot summary below)
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In the context of WW2 narratives, the story of Operation Mincemeat is unique a bizarre and seductive cinematic blend of high-level espionage and ingenious fiction, where the stakes could hardly be higher. Michelle Ashford's script fuses multiple strands and moods: tense, romantic, thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and endlessly surprising. It tells a richly human story of the soldiers we seldom see, who fight a different kind of war in shadows and deception, haunted by the knowledge that certainty and guarantee of success are nowhere to be found.
Leave your thoughts about Operation Mincemeat.
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe many stumbling blocks, setbacks and eventual (spoiler alert for a three-quarters-of-a-century-old war) triumphs of Operation Mincemeat are handled by a deft crew of real-life stiff-upper-lip types played by the finest U.K. actors working today. |
| RogerEbert.comChristy LemireThe story itself is so absurd and is told with enough surprises and dry humor that it’s constantly engaging. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOperation Mincemeat takes liberties. All historically based movies do. Call Madden’s version a civilized shell game that accomplishes its mission, more or less in the spirit of how things actually got made up and went down. |
| ColliderRoss BonaimeAshford’s screenplay and Madden’s excellent direction all manage to take what could’ve easily been a fairly standard historical war drama and turn it into something more intricate, layered, and surprisingly powerful. |
| TimeStephanie ZacharekAside from the fact that Operation Mincemeat features not one but two former Mr. Darcys (one from the much-loved 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series, the other from Joe Wright’s similarly marvelous 2005 film adaptation), and works beautifully as a romance, it’s also a cracking espionage caper. |
| CNNBrian LowryThe film thus operates on multiple levels, playing like an old-fashioned caper as well as a window into history. And like its inspiration, if there are hiccups here and there, when the smoke clears it's hard to consider this delicious "Operation" anything but a rousing success. |
| ABC NewsPeter TraversSometimes a shamelessly retro wartime romance is all the escape you need and Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen add class and wicked humor to this fact-based WW2 spy thriller about how British intelligence used a corpse to put one over on Hitler. |
| Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayOperation Mincemeat isn’t groundbreaking cinema, but it’s well-crafted and thoughtful; and when the heroes are inventing the personal details for their dead soldier and imagining all the real lives they’re affecting, the movie becomes appealingly bittersweet. |
| The A.V. ClubBrent SimonIt’s also shot through with a humanizing sense of uncertainty, moral complication, and even wistfulness about the manner in which this work weighs upon its practitioners, for an altogether rewarding experience even for those viewers who traditionally eschew wartime dramas. |
| The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyA far more decorous affair than its macho-burger title would suggest, this is a classy production with a first-rate ensemble cast, splicing the story’s intrigue with a poignant vein of melodrama. |
