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

Action/Adventure/Spy

Rated – M – violence/sexual references

Duration – 116mins

Release – August 2015

Director – Guy Ritchie

Cast – Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander

Mr Knight

Whenever The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was mentioned to me people kept saying “Isn’t it just like Kingsman?” The answer is, No! In saying that, that isn’t a bad thing at all. Despite Kingsman being a great spy movie, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a beast of its own.

Set in 1963 beginning in East Berlin the story gives a mini World War Two history explaining the tense relationship between the US and Russia to set the mood. This brief history is followed by a fun face off with the two male leads of this spy epic, Henry Cavill’s CIA agent Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer’s KGB agent Illya Kuryakin. Stuck in the middle of these two secret agent’s is Ex-Machina’s Alicia Vikander as Gaby Teller, a German, super attractive motor mechanic with links to a Nazi scientist father.

Once the ball begins rolling and the action is truly kicking in, Solo and Kuryakin are informed by their respective bosses that to save the world from a Nazi nuclear disaster the two top agents must work together along with Gaby Teller to stop disaster from happening. Take two countries agents with a true passionate hate for each other, add egos that make their heads a size difficult to walk through doorways and mix in a beautiful woman, makes a fun movie.

Cavill’s Solo is witty, charming, and a talented agent without his character overdoing it and making him dislikeable. Hammer’s stern, angry, monstrously sized Kuryakin is a fun part of the film and Hammer plays the character to a tee, making him very believable as mother Russia’s best of the best. One aspect I liked most was that the sexual tension in this one was not put between the stereotypical charming American in Cavill but instead, Guy Richie used Hammer’s angry Russian to hit it off with Vikander’s Gaby.

Richie made the movie fun with a good mix of action and humour, Italy’s beautiful scenery, sixties fashion and high end cars. But it was Richie’s style in direction that made it so visually appealing. Every so often Richie spliced different scenes together showing a mix up of different simultaneous things happening at once which added to the positives of this film.

The only negative I found was Alicia Vikander’s mixture of accents slipping out, sometimes going from German, to British to her native tongue being Swedish. Otherwise she has shown since her breakout flick Ex-Machina and now this big feature, she has a strong future ahead in Hollywood.

I recommend you go out and catch this one. Good action. Good laughs. Good movie.

Mrs Knight

I’m new to Guy Ritchie films, so I went in with no expectations besides really liking the preview. I felt it was beautifully put together. I loved the stylised action and editing which reminded me of a comic-book film, almost Sin City-esque. It kept me engaged, even during the car chase, which is unheard of for me! I hate car chases!

The film is set in the 1960s during the Cold war and shows the unlikely partnership of American CIA agent Solo played by the gorgeous Henry Cavill, team up with Russian KBG agent Illya Kurakin (Armie Hammer). Their mission is to protect German mechanic Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) and stop a criminal organisation from using Gaby’s father’s scientific expertise to construct their own nuclear bomb and sell it to the Nazi’s.

I cringed at first seeing Hammer with a Russian accent but thankfully he pulled it off beautifully and I warmed to him quite quickly. I enjoyed the relationship between the two mega egos of Solo and Illya, they were funny, likeable and ok, yes, very handsome. The fashion and make up was absolutely beautiful and I was very envious of the leady ladies beauty.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E was cleverly put together and had plenty of wit. A spy film I think most people will enjoy, with a decent amount of both male and female eye candy to suit all tastes. Two thumbs up from me. I might even give some of Guy Ritchie’s other films a go. Calm down Mr Knight, I said MIGHT.