Guy Ritchie’s spy comedy, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, sends super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) on a risky mission to retrieve a mysterious object called ‘the Handle,’ with its purpose kept mysterious. Orson is recruited by British government official Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) to lead the undercover spy team, including hacker Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza), movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett), and J.J. Davies (Bugzy Malone). In compeтιтion with Orson’s rival Mike (Peter Ferdinando), the team races to get their hands on ‘the Handle’ before it can be sold for $10 million by eccentric billionaire Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant).
The quest to retrieve ‘the Handle’ in this Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham movie is challenging because of the many players involved. A gang of Ukrainian mobsters originally steals the object before eventually falling in the lap of Greg Simmonds, a wacky billionaire hoping to sell ‘the Handle’ for $10 million. The hopeful recipients are two tech moguls, Trent and Arnold, who have suspicious and secretive reasons for acquiring ‘the Handle.” Orson’s and Mike’s teams fight throughout Operation Fortune to be the spy team to take the mysterious enтιтy from everyone else.
The Handle Is An AI Program That Would Destroy The World’s Financial Market
The Program Is Sought After By Criminals And Business Figures Alike
Despite remaining a secret for a good portion of the film, Orson and the team of Operation Fortune ultimately discover that ‘the Handle’ is an AI technology that could be used to seriously disrupt the world’s financial markets. Orson realizes that the program can hack into any security system, including every single bank around the world, and thus, give the person behind the controls the opportunity to majorly disturb the global economy.
If ‘the Handle’s’ handler decides to harm the financial markets, one brief change could bring down the entire economic infrastructure.
This advanced technology is not only rare but highly lucrative for the various competing groups in the film, from the Ukrainian mob to the rich tech geniuses. Another scenario that ‘the Handle’ could potentially create in Operation Fortune revolves around the world’s form of currency. If ‘the Handle’s’ handler decides to harm the financial markets, one brief change could bring down the entire economic infrastructure. As a result, the world would have to revert to a single currency — gold.
Operation Fortune’s Tech Billionaires Plan Explained: Why They Needed The Handle
Hugh Grant’s Greg Becomes Aware Of The Deeper Scheme
Throughout Operation Fortune, Greg Simmonds plans to sell ‘the Handle’ to a pair of billionaires, Trent and Arnold, for a grand sum of 10 million dollars. However, Simmonds has no idea that these tech moguls have purchased $40 billion worth of gold mines to take complete control of the world’s economy with the help of ‘the Handle.’
Essentially, the men concocted a master plan where they would own a vast majority of the world’s gold, use ‘the Handle’ to disrupt the financial markets, and then grow rich because of their monopoly over the one resource the entire world would suddenly need. Although Simmonds had planned to sell ‘the Handle’ to Trent and Arnold, he was utterly ignorant of their scheme for most of the film. Though he initially seemed like another Hugh Grant villain role, Simmonds becomes more helpful than harmful.
However, after discovering the plan, Simmonds no longer wants to hand over ‘the Handle’ but does want to collect his payment for the original deal. This eventually leads him to join Orson Fortune’s crew, with Danny as his right-hand man. He confronts the billionaires with an intense and lyrical monologue. When they tell him that they won’t pay him, Simmonds chooses violence and uses a vast variety of weapons to destroy the moguls and their compound, and even threatens their mothers. Ultimately, Operation Fortune’s billionaires are taken down for good.
Mike’s Plan Explained: Why He Stole The Handle From Alexander
Mike’s Greed Was His Sole Motivation
Mike is not only the opposing spy after ‘the Handle’ but also Orson’s nemesis and clearly has a selfish streak. In Operation Fortune, Mike intends to steal the money that the tech moguls promised to pay Simmonds after the transaction of ‘the Handle.’ Despite being an employee of the Ukrainian mob that first stole ‘the Handle,’ Mike decides to betray the gang and Alexander, killing all the men so he can bring ‘the Handle’ to Trent and Arnold himself and get his hands on their money.
After Simmonds kills Trent and Arnold, Mike attempts to take ‘the Handle’ for himself, suddenly understanding its incredible worth.
However, in yet another classic Guy Ritchie movie move, it is revealed that Mike has also been working for Trent and Arnold, and yet again, Mike double-crosses his employer. After Simmonds kills Trent and Arnold, Mike attempts to take ‘the Handle’ for himself, suddenly understanding its incredible worth.
Overall, it seems that Mike’s end goal was to do whatever it took, including truly awful deeds, to steal a significant amount of money and power for himself. Fortunately, by the end of Operation Fortune, Orson took Mike and his goons down with the literal case in which ‘the Handle’ was kept, ruining Mike’s greedy, villainous dreams.
What Happened To The Handle In Operation Fortune’s Ending? Was It Destroyed?
The Program Is Safe For Now
At the conclusion of Operation Fortune, Orson and the team successfully got their hands on ‘the Handle.’ Once the fighting was done, Orson, Sarah, J.J., Danny, and the newly inducted Simmonds returned ‘the Handle’ to their boss, Nathan Jasmine. As a figure in the British government, Nathan implies that ‘the Handle’ will be kept safe by Britain’s government and away from the hands of morally corrupt individuals. This probably means that ‘the Handle’ was not destroyed.
Though the case of ‘the Handle’ feels solved, handing it over to a single government enтιтy seems potentially dangerous and could theoretically lead to another dangerous mission in the future. Though Orson Fortune’s team decides to take a vacation after the events of Operation Fortune, there is always the chance that the group will reconvene soon for another thrilling mission if an Operation Fortune sequel ever happens.
How Operation Fortune Compares To Other Movies With An AI Antagonist
The MCU And Mission: Impossible Franchises Have Used AI Villains
With AI becoming more and more common in our world, AI has been used more often in action movies, whether it be tools used by the villains or serving as the villains themselves. The recent action thriller G20 is a similar example of Operation Fortune‘s storyline about AI being used for financial purposes. The villains in the movie are looking to get rich off cryptocurrency by using kidnapped world leaders, deepfake technology, and AI to tank the dollar value of nations around the world.
There are also instances of movies featuring AI going rogue and taking extreme measures to ensure it fulfills its programmed purpose. Eagle Eye is a thriller in which an AI program used to ensure America’s safety perceives the leaders of the country to be a threat to the nation and sets in motion a mᴀssive ᴀssᴀssination plot. Likewise, the MCU villain Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron was designed to be a protective AI for the entire world, only to come to the conclusion that the Avengers and humanity are the biggest threats to the planet.
The latest Mission: Impossible movie introduced a new AI technology that challenges Ethan Hunt and his team. Like in Operation Fortune, Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning presents an AI program called the Enтιтy, which is sought after by various groups. However, unlike the Handle, the Enтιтy has motivations of its own as it breaks out into the digital world with the goal of self-preservation. It uses deepfakes, rewrites digital information, and generally makes it so nothing in the digital world can be trusted.
