The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a popular TV show in the 1960s starring
Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as a pair of spies at the height of the Cold
War. One was American and one was Russian which seems like a risky move
especially for the time. Humanizing a character from a communist country was
not exactly popular back then. Five decades later and Guy Ritchie has turned
that series into a movie. But are Cold War spies still relevant?
Not exactly,
but that’s why The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
works more as a throwback to the spy movies of old but with a modern style and
sensibility. The film follows CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB
agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) the best of their respective agencies and
enemies. However they are forced to be partners when they learn a rich couple
with ties to former Nazis are creating a nuclear warhead. They are also allied
with Gabby (Alicia Vikander) the daughter of the man who’s constructing the
weapon. So they have to overcome their animosity and save the day.
Guy
Ritchie pulls out all his usual punches with this film applying a fast pace,
greatly choreographed action sequences, some fun humour and wit, and a tendency
to be non-linear with some twists. But he also infuses the film with a decent
dosing of 60s spy allure which gives it a more distinct character and charisma.
Speaking of which, Henry Cavill is fantastic giving the sometimes cartoony confidence
of his character a certain charm. Cavill was very nearly James Bond once and
here he gets to show off how he would have done. He’d probably be pretty
decent, maybe more so than Daniel Craig as he’s got the suaveness perfect. Armie
Hammer however while much better than his bare effort in The Lone Ranger is not as interesting. His accent is awful, but it
doesn’t really distract from the film surprisingly. It still might have been
better to cast an actual Russian, especially considering how most of the
supporting cast were Eastern European. But I like that both characters get an
equal amount of screen-time. It would have been easy to focus on one over the
other but both are characterized as sympathetic and both get chances to let
their skillsets outdo one another. Alicia Vikander fresh off her captivating
performance in Ex Machina does some
great work here and Elizabeth Debicki also shows her strength as an antagonist.
And here’s something I never thought I’d say: I wanted more Hugh Grant! When you
see the film you’ll understand he’s not in it nearly as much as he should be!
And
again the action sequences are really tight. The way these scenes particularly
the car chases are cut and edited allows you to really feel the impact too.
There are also some really good looking set-pieces, a fun score, and little
homages to the original series. It does have some weaknesses in regards to
Hammer’s performance and I’d be lying if I said the chemistry between him and
Cavill was anything more than passable. There are also times when some of
Ritchie’s tricks get weary, and the plot is fairly formulaic without a whole
lot of creativity in the set-up and execution.
But The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is still a
thoroughly entertaining stylistic action-comedy that doesn’t take itself
seriously. It works as a great homage to Cold War spy movies with a mostly
charismatic cast and some great action and wit. Like the original series, it’s
not a classic, but I think it’s still a film you can’t afford to miss this
summer.
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