FILM | Chuck Koplinski
I doubt that there was ever a great clamor for a big screen adaptation of the 1960’s Cold War television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the fact that it’s been in development for over a decade shows just how bankrupt Hollywood is where original ideas are concerned. Anything with any sort of name recognition is a viable option these days (Did you hear that a PEZ movie is in development?), making U.N.C.L.E. as worthwhile as anything else coming out of Tinsel Town.
Fortunately, much as he did with the two Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes films, director Guy Ritchie brings a sense of style and energy to this project, taking what was a moribund property and creating a vibrant piece of pop entertainment. With one foot planted firmly in the Cold War era and the other in the now, the director presents the spygame shenanigans of that time with an air of quaint nostalgia, making a lark of a movie in the process whose sole mission is to entertain.
The time is 1963, and things get off to a rousing start as we witness CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) shepherd Gaby (Alicia Vikander), the best mechanic in Germany, beyond the Berlin Wall. It isn’t an easy feat, as KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) puts forth a spirited effort to stop him, and it ends up not being the last time he finds himself pulling up the rear where Solo is concerned. They’re soon charged with working together to find nuclear scientist Dr. Udo Teller (Christian Berkel), who not only has gone missing but is rumored to be on the verge of constructing an atomic bomb in a more efficient and deadly manner. That Gaby is his daughter is no accident.
As is often the case, this simple mission becomes far more complicated than it should as double crosses, elegant villains and a plot for world domination all rear their ugly heads before this affair is settled. Credit Ritchie and co-writer Lionel Wigram for a script that’s equal parts imaginative action and pithy humor, striking a tone that never lets things get too serious, despite the fact that the fate of the world is in the balance. The biggest surprise of the film is that its two leads are so adept at striking the proper comedic tone when called for. Cavill shows much more range than he’s displayed in previous films, sharp, suave and able to deliver a subtle double entendre without calling attention to himself. Hammer compliments him wonderfully, saddled with a role that could have been nothing more than a blundering brute in lesser hands but the actor is able to bring humanity to Kuryakin despite his hairtrigger temper.
The film makes no bones about being the first in what Warner Brothers hopes will be a profitable franchise, and Cavill and Hammer are so good together, I wouldn’t mind setting out on another adventure with them. Of course, that will be determined by a generation that might see this throwback to the early James Bond films as passé. Here’s hoping those who fondly remember the U.N.C.L.E. series will give this new version a shot as it captures the feel and look of Cold War espionage movies and programs of this sort with a reverence that’s surprising and welcome.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].