From 1964 to 1968 there was a TV show on NBC called The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. It starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum and it had a 105 episode run and then went away, living on only in the minds of my parents’ generation… until now. For some reason Guy Ritchie chose to dust this old spy TV show off and turn it into one of his super stylized movies. Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation whet my appetite for a good ol’ spy movie but I wasn’t sure if The Man from U.N.C.L.E was going to do the job but I was able to put aside my reservations and sit down to watch it. And thank God I did.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E came in on the tail end of the summer movie season and even though it’s late, it’s still a welcome addition to the mix. Before you see this movie just ask yourself if you liked the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movies, RocknRolla, or Snatch, because if you didn’t, then skip this one. If you did, then you’ll enjoy Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Even though Guy Ritchie’s movies are all different, they all have his very unique style and this film is oozing with it. The great thing is that it works perfectly with the 1960’s spy theme. The movie was montage heavy but it didn’t feel overused or forced. The montages served more to set the mood as a spy movie rather than a time skipping tool.
The plot was typical of this kind of movie and it helped it become a truly immersive experience. There was nothing that pulled me out of The Man from U.N.C.L.E and I was able to sit back and enjoy it for the full run. I even caught hints of the same charm Kingsman: The Secret Service had, which was a nice surprise. The only problem with having a movie be so typical of a genre is that the plot got a little predictable. That being said, it was still fun to watch even though I called the ending not even halfway through the movie. I was only slightly surprised by one part of the plot and even that could have been figured out if I was a little more aware. My friend Walker put together the pieces I missed so between the two of us, we called it all. Of course, I’m not sure how likely that is for others to do the same thing. As I’ve mentioned before, I see A LOT of movies and am familiar with a lot of tropes. Walker is a creative writing major so he eats plot for breakfast. Don’t let my opinion on the predictability of the plot turn you away from seeing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. It was still really good.
Superman and The Lone Ranger were picked to reprise Robert Vaughn and David McCallum’s roles and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how they’d do. Henry Cavill was great as Superman and was good in The Tudors, but I hadn’t seen him in anything else and I’d never heard of Arnie Hammer before. It was only thanks to IMDB that I learned he was in The Lone Ranger. The two lead actors did great job and, in fact, Henry Cavill impressed me the most. He had a Don Draper-esque cadence and swagger and helped suck me into the film. He really exuded everything you expect from a 60’s spy without feeling like a parody. The Man from U.N.C.L.E was more James Bond and less Austin Powers which was, in part, why it worked so well. Arnie Hammer impressed me as well as the the typical cold and calculating KGB agent with a hidden soft side. For how typical the type of role is, it’s quite easy to screw up. A shaky accent, too much emoting, or any other hint at being false and the illusion falls apart. He was even able to deliver deadpan jokes quite well. None of these men are going to win awards for this but still I believe they deserve to be noticed for their work.
When all is said and done I don’t believe I can recommend this movie enough. It wasn’t fantastic and it wasn’t even the best movie I’ve seen this year. What The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has going for it is the fact that it’s a fun stylized movie which had me wanting to slick back my hair, throw on a suit, and drink some whiskey. I had fun from beginning to end and in my opinion that’s the most important part of any movie. Go see this movie in the theaters if you can. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money then wait for the last week of it’s run and go see a matinee. Either way it’s worth the price of admission and enjoyable enough to be see on the big screen.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E gets a 8.5 out of 10