The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Review

A smooth dose of style over substance.

What They Say:
Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s period of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centers on U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. The two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization led by Victoria Vinciguerra, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo’s only lead is Gaby Teller, the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find her and prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As things go in Hollywood you tend to find there’s a cyclical nature to things. While it may not be the strongest theme of 2015, as people rail on about comic book movies, but this year has been a good one for spy films. Matthew Vaughn got in first with Kingsman and we got a few follow-ups with Spy and now The Man from UNCLE. And there’s still a Bond movie ahead of us this year. You could even add in the new Mission: Impossible if you want to consider it in the same genre and the upcoming Bridge of Spies film as well, though that’s less about the spycraft and more the politics of the era. With UNCLE, the film lands squarely in the dead of August and with little in the way of action films it’s fairly well positioned for a light but solid run for the most part, bringing in the Guy Ritchie fans to be sure while drawing a few others for its style and overall slick looking production from the trailers and TV spots.

Though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed many spy shows and films over the years, the TV shows of the sixties always kept me at a distance outside of the Bond films. I never saw the original work for this, though my parents were big fans and waxed nostalgia at times over the years for the fun of it all. Part of the appeal for me going into this was two-fold; I love the look and style of this time period and the promotional push about capturing had me hopeful for something that got it right. The other being that I wanted to see more of Alicia Vikander after seeing her fantastic performance in Ex Machina earlier this year. Unfortunately, both things that drew me in had a fairly weak feeling to it overall rather than something that played strong to it, leaving me to focus more on the two male leads.

Similar to other Guy Ritchie films it’s best to not invest too heavily in the plot as there’s a kind of loose convoluted storyline going here with important details are left out until really necessary, rather than establishing properly earlier, and it has his penchant for the quick flashbacks to showcase what just happened from a different perspective. I do like that trick but not several times within one film as it just gets to be a bit much. Mostly what we get here is the basic idea that made the series in that we have one of the best Russian KGB agents and one of the best American CIA agents thrust together to stop some wealthy individuals from creating a nuclear weapon that’s quicker, easier to build and more powerful than what either government has on hand or in the works. The only lead they really have towards stopping the man involved is his daughter that he hasn’t seen in eighteen years.

The draw, of course, is watching the different personalities of Napoleon Solo, played by Henry Cavill, and Illya Kuryakin, played by Armie Hammer, going at it in their own ways to deal with the job at hand while Vikander as Gaby ends up playing in the middle with her own route, though she’s mostly stuck to having to be a mother of sort to the two boys that can’t stop fighting with each other. It’s all familiar to be sure but it’s mostly well executed and the two certainly enjoy their roles. I was rather wary of their portrayals going into it as the trailers really overplay part of the dynamic, notably with Illya calling Solo “cowboy” multiple times – to the point of annoyance. Thankfully, it doesn’t even happen in film to nearly halfway through and then maybe one or two more times after that, making it less of an issue than it would be if it was as common as made out to be from the promotional materials. Hammer makes the most of Illya throughout it as he’s pretty much the straight man of the team and he’s slowly developing some closeness to Gaby since they have to play the role of an engaged couple one they get out of East Berlin. There’s a good seriousness to him but also some really fun moments with the almost-eye-rolls that he gets to do in dealing with Solo. Though I’m still not sure how Hammer gets leading roles as I don’t think he has a lot of charisma, he certainly charms here for the most part with a role that doesn’t encourage much of it.

Cavill as Solo on the other hand is really problematic. The character himself is difficult simply because of the backstory of a con man forced to work for the CIA in order to work off his suspended sentence since he has amazing skills. Cavill has him as that kind of schmoozing type that has the world handed to him on a platter and takes everything on it, the platter itself and whatever the person holding the platter has. The problem is that as much as I like Cavill I can’t seem to find him in roles that feel suited to him. Here he comes across as aloof and distanced, the sixties playboy moving from scene to scene, doing the CIA work and besting those that have spent careers working at it all while still lining his own pockets since he’ll always be a con-man first. Though he has some good moments, the reminder that he is the con-man means you never really trust him nor believe he has a heart of gold underneath. Because he’d sell it in a heartbeat.

With a loose plot to it the film works well enough as a smooth blend of set pieces, some simple character moments and fun action sequences done in Ritchie’s style that will delight his fans. Some of the convoluted aspects reminded me of the first Sherlock Holmes film, which in turn reminded me why I always felt frustrated by it because it had a kind of smug superiority about itself. And that presence is here as well but in different forms from the two leads. The action is certainly enjoyable though and through the creative camera work it really has some strong moments, particularly with the quick cuts and the nods to the sixties filming techniques. But at the same time, it’s without a bit of life. Mostly because the villains of the film aren’t worth mentioning because they’re not anything. I can’t even call them shallow as they’re just one dimensional simple bad guys that make even the worst of the Bond villains cringe at how little they stand out. The real focus here is on the core trio and the way they survive their situations. The rest is just trappings for that, which means you have a superficial and fun film but one that doesn’t fill you up much.

At least they mention the name of the film at the end as part of the setup for what could be more films. Hopefully those will feature a little more Hugh Grant as he quietly stole his few scenes here.

Grade: B-

Chris Beveridge

http://www.fandompost.com

Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.

He likes to write a lot, as you can see.

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