The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
What’s this? Another SPY movie? Why yes it is!
Is it just me or have we had a ton of spy movies this year? The good thing is that most of them have been pretty good! The latest one is from famed director Guy Ritchie and is a remake of the old televison series from the 60’s. Ritchie did a great job with the script making sure that the characters did not take themselves too seriously, yet were serious enough to make a spy film work. The film is set right in the middle of the cold war and has a real Roger Moore James Bond feel to it.
Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) plays CIA agent Napoleon Solo who is forced to team up with KGB agent Illya Kuryakin played by Armie Hammer (The Social Network). Their mission is to help Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) find her long lost father who is believed to be kidnapped and working for maniacal couple Victoria and Alexander (Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvini) who plan on destroying the world with nuclear warheads. The USA, Russia, and Great Britain all decide to work together to stop the crazy plan and here is where the fun starts. The irony here is the we have an American (Hammer) playing the part of a Russian, an Englishman (Cavill) playing the part of an American, and a Swede (Vikander) playing the part of a German!
The movie and plot flow along smoothly and steadily and has just the right mix of old war humor to make you never feel uptight. There are not any huge special effects a la Mission Impossible or major other high tech scenes and I think it totally fits for this era and mood of the film. Another plus is the cool and fun way that Cavill, Vikander, and Hammer all play well with each other. In fact, you can tell that they probably all had a blast making this movie!
Another fun part of this movie was the outstanding score by Daniel Pemberton. I felt like I was back in the 60’s and loved every moment of it! This film is definitely a fun night at the movies and one that the whole family can watch.
7 out of 10 Stars
