The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
is a British-American action comedy spy film based off the
television series that ran from 1964 to 1968 starring Henry Cavill,
Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, and Hugh Grant.
The film takes place in
the 1960's during the Cold War bringing together a secret agent from
America, and Russia, with the assistance of a daughter of a Nazi
scientist, to stop a nuclear bomb being made by a team led by a
wealthy couple in Rome.
Is it just
me, or does he look even more like Clark Kent here?
First up we
have Napoleon Solo, a smooth talking ladies man who ended up
working for the CIA after he was caught stealing in the military and
served prison time. He's a laid back personality who never loses his
cool even in the most intense of situations.
I can't really compare
his performance to Robert Vaughn since I never seen
the show, but looking at it based on its own merits, he does a good
job. Had me laughing at various points through the movie, and plays
off of the more emotional Illya Kuryakin character very well.
He's
dead. No big surprise.
Speaking
of Illya Kuryakin, here he is in all his KGB glory. Illya is the
polar opposite of Napoleon's cool demeanor by having deep personal
issues that causes him to erupt in a blind rage at any unlucky sap
who's stupid enough to piss him off. This leads to some pretty comical situations when he's beating on people who deserve it, but
at the samae time you feel for him.
Because
of this, he's just a more interesting character than Napoleon.
Napoleon is basically James Bond Lite while Illya feels more like
his own thing. If the same was true for the original TV show, then I
understand why Illya was such a breakout character. Hammer has good
on- screen chemistry with Vikander as well, even though they fall
prey to the 'almost kiss but get interrupted' cliche.
That
dress is so you.
Meet
Gaby Teller. Gaby is a mechanic in Germany who gets smuggled out of
the country by Napoleon, and brought in to assist Solo and
Kuryakin's mission disguised as the latter wife. Joke's on them
because all this time she was working as a British spy and has to
sell them out just to get close enough to her father to complete her
mission. I can see why they call her Gaby.
She's irritable with a speck of sass. Not that you
blame her since right out of the gate she's put in one irritable
situation after another. In one scene the woman straight up wrestles
with the Russian in a hotel room. I mean, Gaby isn't unlikeable or
anything, but there really isn't much to talk about.
What do you plan to do with that?
Victoria Vinciguerra is our resident villainess for the
movie, and it's refreshing to see a woman in this role for a change.
Maybe there were others this year that had one, however not in the films I've
seen. Victoria plays up the sex appeal (not in an objectifying way)
to get her way and comes across as a rather intelligent villain
until the very end where her rant about how dangerous she is causes
her untimely death. At least this movie uses it for comedic effect.
She has a lot more personality than her husband who can
more or less be summed up as the muscle. While I enjoy her presence,
I can't say they're doing anything new here. Rich, powerful woman
who uses sex to get what she wants? Been done. The execution is at
the very least entertaining to watch, and in a world void of
originality some times that's the best you can hope for.
I would take this time to talk about Hugh Grant's
character, except for the fact he has little screen time, so there's
not much to say. He's British. That's all you really need to know.
This is why stealth games aren't co-op.
Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a spy movie first, and an action
flick second. Oh, there are some fun action sequences, don't get me
wrong, they're just not the prime focus. Take these characters apart
and as individuals they're not much to look at. Stick them together
and you have a fun team to watch, which naturally is the whole point
of the movie since it's about the formation of U.N.C.L.E.
Stand out comedic moments include Solo in a car
listening to music and getting ready to eat in constrast to Kuryakin
being chased around in a boat, and the two going over what to do with
their prisoner while he's being fried by his own torture device. On
the other side of thing, that scene I was talking about earlier with
the wrestling? They cut to the outside to make it sound like
aggressive sex. I admit, I laughed, but I can see why someone else
wouldn't because I have seen that done before. Comedy is highly
subjective, so it's impossible to really say what will make you
laugh, and what won't.
Throughout the film there's this style they do that I
can best describe as the instant reply. It's where they mute out the
audio in a scene, and then come back to it later to fill in the
blanks. At times it can be really clever, especially in the climax
of the movie. Other times? You're left wondering whether or not the
movie theater lost sound. It's very hit and miss, but brownie points
for at least trying to do something different to stand out. I don't
know if this is something the show did or not.
I think I've
seen Hogan wear Gaby's sun glasses before.
While not a
perfect movie, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a refreshing take on the
genre when compared to other films that came out this year, and
proves to be an enjoyable time at the theater. If you want something
different, but not too jarring to what you're used, Man from
U.N.C.L.E. may be what you're looking for.
Get it
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