The Man from U. N. C. L. E. review

Winston Churchill, mushroom clouds, a map of Germany being split down the middle: these are the images which begin The Man from 

U. N. C. L. E. and which lay the groundwork for the sleek tale of espionage to follow.

Henry Cavill plays Napoleon Solo, ex-con turned CIA agent, who is dispatched to bring Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander), the daughter of a Nazi rocket scientist, from East to West Berlin. No easy task. And one that is nearly scuppered by Soviet super-agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer). The three of them are soon forced to work together, however, in order to track down Teller’s father who may or may not be working with Neo-Nazis intent on creating a nuclear weapon.

Guy Ritchie’s direction lends itself well to this re-imagining of the 60’s TV series and he imbues it with both style and playfulness. He also manages to find a happy medium between ensuring that the film doesn’t drag yet also that it doesn’t rush along frantically pummelling its audience into submission, as some similar films are wont to do.

Cavill, Hammer, and Vikander also make for great leads. The personality clash between Cavill’s arrogant, apparently nonchalant Solo and Hammer’s serious, no-nonsense Kuryakin is a delight to watch (their argument about matching belts and dresses being a particular highlight.) This game of one-upmanship is prevented from becoming too suffocatingly masculine by the presence of Vikander’s Teller, who thankfully doesn’t fall into Bond girl cliché and is an essential driving force in the film’s narrative; blunt speaking and rough around the edges, damsel in distress she is not.

If there’s one thing that weighs against the film it is the lack of a strong and compelling villain. Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki) has some suitably menacing moments as does Uncle Rudi (Sylvester Groth) but they don’t quite have the colour to match the rest of the film’s retro stylings. Their master plan (like all good spy film villains they must presumably have one) is also never really fleshed out and thus the audience are never given a chance to shake their fists at the screen in indignation, or at least mutter ‘Jesus Christ’ into their popcorn bags.

All in all, though, The Man from U. N. C. L. E. is a pleasant throwback to the spy movies of yesteryear, think Roger Moore era Bond. It’s fun, stylish, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you want an undemanding popcorn flick that won’t drown you in CGI this summer, be sure to check it out.