Director Guy Ritchie has always had a stylish charm to his filmmaking. With The Man from U.N.C.L.E., his latest project, that stylish charm is present and accounted for. Based on the popular 1960’s television series, U.N.C.L.E. centers around Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) an American CIA agent and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), a Russian KGB agent forced to work together by their respective governments to stop an international terror organization from gaining nuclear capabilities. Warning spoilers ahead…
The only lead these opposing super agents have comes in the form of the beautiful Gaby (Alicia Vikander), an auto mechanic from East Germany whose father is a German scientist who has gone into hiding and is the key component in the building of these nuclear weapons for the unnamed organization. The big bad in the film happens to be a husband and wife team, Alexander (Luca Calvani) and Victoria Vinciguerras (Elizabeth Debicki). Victoria proves to be the “scarier” of the two but she’s hardly Dr. Evil and their objectives are never really fleshed out.
I would say two-thirds of the film was spent establishing the mistrust between Solo and Kuryakin with Gaby in the middle. I rather enjoyed watching Cavill and Hammer. Cavill does his best suave Connery impersonation. While Hammer is that loose cannon hit first, ask questions later kind of agent. As for Vikander, she is given less to do which is a shame given her standout performance in Ex Machina earlier this year.
Most of the people who will go and see U.N.C.L.E. will have no idea about the 60’s series this is based on. Director Ritchie did take the right approach in making this essentially an origins film. Even the term U.N.C.L.E., which stands for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, doesn’t get used till the end and it’s meaning is never explained.
The predicable ending does set up possible sequels that I have to say I hope happens. The trio of Cavill, Hammer and Vikander is worthy of another go round. August releases are usually considered a throw away month for films that the studio doesn’t think can compete in the heart of summer. But every now and then, you get that one standout. U.N.C.L.E. may be a poor man’s James Bond or not quite up to par with Mission: Impossible but there’s enough there to entertain us and keep us interested as the dog days of summer slowly move towards fall.
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris and Hugh Grant
PG13 116 Min
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
