By Brent Snyder
Operation Mincemeat is a serviceable WWII drama about British spies waging a war of disinformation against the Nazis. One such plan, known as "Operation Mincemeat" was originally devised by Ian Fleming - who after the war would create the character of super-spy James Bond in a series of 007 novels.
Fleming's plan involved dumping a dead body carrying fake classified documents in enemy territory. The idea was that the Nazis would find forged battle plans for a fictitious Allied invasion of Greece. After German troops would be sent to fortify the Greek coastline, the Allies would instead invade the relatively unprotected Sicily. And it actually worked.
But as for the film, I felt more than a bit betrayed by the trailer. Based on the marketing for the film I thought I was getting a movie about young Ian Fleming's work in WWII. But Fleming, played by Johnny Flynn, was instead sidelined to a few glorified cameos.
Meanwhile, the characters played by stars Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen and Kelly Macdonald are involved in a tedious romance/love triangle subplot that feels forced and unconvincing.
The best parts of the film are Flynn's cameos as Fleming, working behind the scenes and mining ideas he would later use in his Bond novels. We see the real life inspirations for such 007 characters as M, Q and Moneypenny - and his reaction to gadgets such as a buzzsaw wristwatch are delightful.
Three Stars
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