Movie Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015)

Hello All,

I know I said I’d do Shaun the Sheep, ended up taking the week off. Saw The Gift, haven’t reviewed it yet because to put it simply, I can’t quite figure out why I can’t describe as more than just “it’s alright.” But anyways, I’m back in the reviewing mode, this time with the big screen adaptation of the classic tv series The Man From U.N.C.L.E, directed by Guy Ritchie who I think would be best known, at least most recently for the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movies and Rocknrolla. So does his latest effort prove fruitful or is it another tv movie misfire?

Plot Summary - Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) is a former master thief turned CIA agent, who gets paired up with KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), to take Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) on a mission to find her father, a rocket scientist who has been captured by a group working with Nazi’s to build an atom bomb. The two must overcome their differences and distrust of each other in order to save the world.

Pros - The film’s musical score is quite catchy, capturing the style of the sixties perfectly. The humour is very on point as well, as most of it s played up with dry wit while also having a few visual gags thrown into the mix as well. The cast is on point, especially Hammer as the hard russian trying to fight the urge to simply destroy everyone and everything. The film is for the most part shot and edited well, the actions scenes are also pretty entertaining.

Cons - The plot is very thin, well told, but thin. It was pointed out to me that they might have chosen it to try and not over complicate the plot, and while I can certainly agree with that sentiment I still have to make a note of it, especially in the mission impossible era. The other thing about this film was two scenes where you’d only hear or see part of what was going on, and then less than two minutes later they’d fill in those small gaps mostly by playing the rest of the scene. I can understand wanting to reveal a twist further down the line of a story, but these two times there was not enough time given to allow for the gravity of those moments to sink in.

Final Score - 8/10

Overall it’s got enough style and charm to elevate the story, if they make another one I only hope we get a bit more of a challenge plot wise.

I am going to try my hardest to see Straight Outta Compton tomorrow. I am being dragged to a work function so I’m hoping to catch it before that.

Until then, I’ll see you folks at the movies.