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

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 14 Aug 2015

In the early 1960’s an American spy (Henry Cavill) forms an uneasy alliance with a Russian spy (Armie Hammer) and an East German girl (Alicia Vikander) to stop a plan to sell a technology that allows the owner to create nuclear weapons more quickly.

Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of the original TV show has a lot in common with his Sherlock Holmes movies. The set design and costuming are great, even when the set pieces don’t quite work. In this movie’s case, there are a lot of cityscapes that seem eerily empty – even for East Germany after curfew. The real problem here is everything else, from the casting to the tone which never congeals into an exciting or entertaining film.

Cavill and Hammer are good looking guys. They do their best to look suave and sophisticated but never once does this translate into actual charisma. We never care about either of them or see them as particularly cool. The joke in several scenes involves how calm they act during nearby mayhem. This usually only makes them look like jerks to the people they could be helping. It’s always boring. The tone lurches between lame attempts at humor and lame attempts at trying to be a James Bond movie. If any character had a personality or was surprised by anything that happens it might translate into the audience finding something to care about.

The last line in the movie is in the trailer and I think you can guess what it is. It is ludicrous sequel baiting as if this entire film was just a prequel to an actual spy thriller. A long, occasionally mean-spirited bore like this is just not worth your time.

Aaron, Cal and I saw it in the theater and had a discussion in the car: