(USA, 116 min.)
Dir. Guy Ritchie, Writ. Guy Ritchie & Lionel Wigram
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander,
Elizabeth Debicki
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| Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer, and Henry Cavill star in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Warner Bros. Canada |
Audiences looking for a swinging time at the movies need not
fret if they haven’t seen the old TV show The
Man from U.N.C.L.E. Guy Ritchie’s new film of the same name resurrects the
1964-1968 television drama from obscurity and gives it a stylish revamp with
Henry Cavill as suave American spy Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer as gruff
Russian operative Illya Kuryakin. The Man
from U.N.C.L.E. improves upon some misguided efforts to adapt TV for the
big screen, as it creates a story that precedes the original work so that one
can appreciate the effort whether one’s a fan of the series or hearing of the
show for the first time. Origins stories are all the rage these days, anyways,
but this stylish actioner set in the swinging 60s gives summer movie season something
new. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an
action caper of the Mad Men era—it’s chic
and sexy entertainment.
The film gets off to a roaring start with a grand opening sequence that gives audiences the who’s who on all the players. Solo rolls past Checkpoint Charlie into an auto garage and tries his German on a mechanic named Gaby (Alicia Vikander). He quickly changing gears and taking steps to extract Gaby and get her over the Berlin Wall. A big honking man, Kuryakin, follows in hot pursuit and gives their flight quite a fight. Cars zoom around the old city as swinging music roars on the soundtrack, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. coasts audiences into escape mode for two hours of fun.
Solo and Kuryakin soon become begrudging allies when the
Yanks and the Russians put their Cold War grievances aside. Their agencies
decide to work together in a convoluted plot to stop some nuclear warfare at
the hands of a vivacious power hungry socialite (The Great Gatsby’s Elizabeth Debicki, in the running for the Queen
of Chic) and use Gaby as their access card. (It’s a long story.) Solo and
Kuryakin play a fun mismatched pair as their egos compete and clash just as strongly
as they do in the opening chase sequence, but in the mutual aim of the mission.
The Man from
U.N.C.L.E. entertains greatly, if inconsistently, as Solo and co. undergo
covert affairs and charm the audience with the ooh-la-la intoxication of their European caper. The plot throws
some good twists that compensate for a handful of set pieces that overstay
their welcome, while some punny one-liners let Cavill charm everyone in the
theatre and offset the comparative dryness of Hammer’s performance. Vikander,
meanwhile, is an unexpected comedic highlight after dramatic turns in Ex-Machina and Anna Karenina and tailor-made for this fun and surprising role. Debicki is spot-on icy posh, while Hugh Grant makes
a likable small role as the man who leads them all to U.N.C.L.E.
Ritchie stages one attractive action sequence after another
with glamour shots in between. The Man
from U.N.C.L.E. has something for everything since its flair for action and
its sense of style go hand-in-hand. Glamorous threads deck out each member of
the cast perfectly, especially Debicki and Vikander, while Cavill gives James
Bond a run for his money in the style department. Perfect use of picturesque
Rome, from the ancient ruins to the timeless architecture, adds a trendy elegance
to the entertainment
Pretty clothes and scenic locales make the stitchings of
Ritchie’s film extra pretty as the director employs split-screen and funky
subtitles to amp up the swagger. The music by Daniel Pemberton makes The Man from U.N.C.L.E. an energetic
runway on which the photogenic cast struts its stuff. It’s like To Catch a Thief with Ocean’s Eleven energy, or a spectacular Vogue spread done as a two-hour action
sequence. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. might
be based on an outmoded TV show, but this film shows that escapism is always in
fashion.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is now playing in wide release.
