In the early 1960s, CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya
Kuryakin participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal
organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie (screenplay),
Lionel Wigram (screenplay), 5 more credits »
Stars: Henry Cavill,
Armie Hammer,
Alicia Vikander |
See full cast and crew »
Storyline
In the 1960s with the Cold War in play, CIA agent Napoleon Solo
successfully helps Gaby Teller defect to West Germany despite the
intimidating opposition of KGB agent Illya Kuryakin. Later, all three
unexpectedly find themselves working together in a joint mission to stop
a private criminal organization from using Gaby's father's scientific
expertise to construct their own nuclear bomb. Through clenched teeth
and stylish poise, all three must find a way to cooperate for the sake
of world peace, even as they each pursue their own agendas
User Reviews
When
I first saw the previews for Guy Ritche's latest film, "The Man from
UNCLE" – a remake of the series of the same name – I decided to approach
it fresh. So I avoided watching any of the adventures of Robert
Vaughn's Napoleon Solo and David McCallum's Ilya Kuryakin.
I
mean, to do otherwise just would not be fair, since my exposure to the
original is limited to pop culture references. Why catch up to a show
from decades ago only to rip apart the new one? Why give myself false
nostalgia?
That said, I cannot tell you whether this is a
faithful recreation of the original, a tasteful homage, or perhaps a
complete bastardization.
However, I can say that, as a Guy
Ritchie action-comedy, it works. The jabs at fictional representations
of espionage are delivered with near perfect timing. Even the
languishing takes meant to ridicule the tropes, stereotypes and clichés
we have all come to see in every action spy thriller do not feel drawn
out. All of Ritchie's trademarks are also there, from the diagetic sound
that shifts to almost non-diagetic levels as the on screen action
becomes a musical montage – a music video if you will – right down to
the ubiquitous tongue in cheek, deadpan humour.
While I am sure
the more eagle-eyed of viewers could play a game of "spot the
anachronism" (that tube frame 4x4 in the previews, for instance), I
would actually fault this movie as being too period. They seem to have
cherry picked all the things people imagine as from the era. The result
is that the clothes are just too chic, the set pieces too on the nose.
Then
again, I guess that is the point: You are meant to fall in love with
the aesthetics of that period as interpreted by Oliver Scholl's
production design, and as captured by John Mathieson's cinematography.
The fashion, the accessories... even the cars. Especially the cars! How
could any depiction of the glamour of the sixties be complete without
one Jaguar E Type? Also, watch out for the cameo of a $38 million
Ferrari.
Even with the attention to detail "Mad Men" put into
shattering any preconceived notions of the so-called swinging sixties,
as well as CNN's "The Sixties" television documentary series'
unflinching look at the social turmoil of those times, somehow I still
wish I could have lived back then.
Or at least escape into the movie universe they have created.
Because
in our world where terrorist groups are committing heinous acts of
barbarity that would put any of UNCLE's supervillain enemies to shame,
where spy thrillers like "Homeland" had to up the ante because reality
is scarier than the fictional world they have created, where the James
Bond 007 franchise lost its playfulness long ago and just keeps getting
grittier and grittier, and where Donald Trump is the most popular US
republican presidential aspirant, the Cold War and its Mutually Assured
Destruction definitely seem worth pining for. I mean what is the mere
threat of a few megatons of thermonuclear annihilation compared to the
Donald?
The movie is cast satisfyingly well enough, with Armie
Hammer's Ilya Kuryakin projecting a cold lethality that may have been a
bit much. Luckily, this is a bickering buddy movie, where Henry Cavill's
Napoleon Solo balances things out with borderline insufferable calm
smoothness. For something with a bunch of Brits speaking in American
accents, I am a bit surprised they toned down Gaby Teller's accent
whenever the character speaks English – I'm sure the Swedish Alicia
Vikander could lay an affectation of an East Berliner real thick.
In
all, "The Man from UNCLE" is an enjoyable comedy and an escapist fare
which just happens to be seemingly set in our past. I even rank it as a
solid tale of espionage, with the end reminding me of Roger Moore as
Bond, yelling to General Gogol, "That's détente comrade. I don't have
it. You don't have it."
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