It’s easy to get excited about the prospect of a film based on the impact of the trailer, the director attached to it or its starring actors and that was definitely the case for the recent remake of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which ticked the box in all three. The problem is that this is all too often a house of cards that is carefully stacked up to give the appearance of being something solid and impressive, but all the while it’s just an illusion. Luckily, the spy adventure is made of decent enough hammered steel with some well timed comedy, fast-paced action and old-school style, making it one of the better big name releases of the summer.
The plot makes for a good reintroduction to the classic 60’s TV show, kicking things off as an origins story that begins with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin facing off against each other deep inside Russian controlled East Berlin. Each on their own mission to find mechanic Gabby Teller, daughter of a missing German nuclear scientist that they’re trying to locate, they rage through the city on a slick battle of speed, strength, will and wit.
It makes for addictive viewing and sets things up well for their somewhat unwanted collaboration as the Russian and US government match them together and send them both reluctantly together with Gabby to visit her uncle in Italy. With a wealthy Nazi-led criminal operation trying to get its hands on uranium enrichment technology, spearheaded by the Vinciguerra family in Rome, they make for a very good team, despite their initial animosity.
With stars like Henry Cavill (Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice), Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander, we were worried we wouldn’t be able to look beyond their previous roles as Superman, The Lone Ranger and Ex-Machina‘s chillingly cool robot, Ava. However, it doesn’t take long for that to wash away and for them to become convincing in their new roles as Solo, Kuryakin and their feisty lead, Gabby.
Vikander is literally flawless in everything that she does, but there were a couple of things that didn’t always ring true in the film, which forces our hand a little in our review of the film. The first is Armie Hammer’s Russian accent, which is decent enough on the whole, but it drops every now and again, just enough to be a noticeable minor flaw. If that’s not picky enough, we also struggled with the sheer size of Henry Cavill. His suits have had to be cut big enough to cover his superhero frame and that takes a little away from his style credentials. However, they still work very well as a duo, bringing a lot of action, well delivered dialogue and great comedy timing.
Hugh Grant is quintessentially British as intelligence commander, Alexander Waverly, and Elizabeth Debicki (Macbeth (2015)) rounds off the cast on the nastier side of the film as the head of the Italian crime family, Victoria Vinciguerra. She puts in a very strong performance as the vicious millionairess as she toys with Cavill to lead them all into a lot of mad-cap peril.
All in all, director, Guy Richie, has done a very commendable job of breathing new life into The Man From U.N.C.L.E., setting things up well for a potential new film series. Having also co-wrote the movie with Lionel Wigram, who he previously worked with on the Sherlock Holmes films, he can take a lot of the credit for a very well constructed spy action comedy adventure caper.
It’s also very well shot with a lot of style from a cinematography perspective as well as good costume, make-up and props. The grainy shots in the opening sequences in East Berlin look like they’ve come straight out of the 1960s and there’s a lot of high-octane pace built into a number of scenes. While we like the idea of the split screen section towards the end to show a few different action shots at once, it’s not faultless in the delivery, making it feel a bit like an afterthought. There are also a couple of occasions when things feel a bit too modern to be set in the 60s, especially the Scotch whiskey bottle in the closing scene, which couldn’t be any more obvious product placement if it tried.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) gets away with any negatives we might find with a certain amount of charm and we can’t get away from the enjoyment factor that the film has. It’s an action-packed movie that manages to blur the lines between a spy caper, comedy espionage spoof and high intensity thriller to create a credible and light-hearted alternative to Bond.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) review: 3.8/5
