Review of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) by Clarisesamuels — 08 Sep 2015

There is an explosion of spy movies making the rounds—The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Tom Cruise), Kingsman: The Secret Service (Colin Firth), not to mention the trailers for Spectre (Daniel Craig), which are now on YouTube. In addition, we are between Jason Bourne installments (Matt Damon/Jeremy Renner), as well as between Taken installments (Liam Neeson). I won't even mention Bill Nighy in the recent Johnny Worricker TV series. Or Red, for that matter (Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, et al).

You would have thought spying had gone out of style when the Cold War ended, but U.N.C.L.E. (which is an acronym for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) is set in the 1960's when the Cold War is still in full swing. Strangely enough, the principal spies, who represent the United States, England and Russia, are working together on this one. Someone has acquired a nuclear bomb, but the evil perpetrator is an independent operator who wants to give the bomb and related classified information to someone who could use it— the chief culprit being a vicious blond whose name is Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki). The original U.N.C.L.E. television show, which I used to watch slavishly as a child, featured two suave and blasé characters named Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, played originally by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. Now they are played by Henry Cavill, fresh from his Man of Steel role and acting very American as a CIA spy, and Armie Hammer, who is acting very Russian as a KGB spy. (The official formation of the spy network called U.N.C.L.E. only occurs at the end of the film.) To this has been added a female spy and a love interest for Kuryakin in the form of Gaby (Alicia Vikander), a double agent who reports to her British boss Waverly (Hugh Grant). Except for Grant, they are all extremely young, going against the recent tide flowing in the direction of aging spies who can still dazzle when they are truly provoked.

In this film the CIA and KGB agents start out trying to kill each other and end up having to work with each other, which is an amusing cause for friction and rivalry between the two. In the meantime, Gaby and Kuryakin have to pretend to be engaged, when in reality she can't stand him although she slowly warms up to him. This leads to a comical scene when the two are bored to death in a luxurious hotel room, and Gaby puts on loud music and sunglasses, while she dances around rather eccentrically in her pajamas hoping to kick some life into the extremely serious and dedicated Kuryakin. Solo, in the meantime, emerges as the primary catalyst throughout the movie, and Cavill is very endearing in this role, displaying a youthful and very American ability to be optimistic and cheerful, even when the enemy captures him, drugs him, and ties him up for torture.

With so many spy movies on all the silver screens, the spy genre has to keep inventing spies that break the mold and are appealingly unique. In U.N.C.L.E., the mold had to be broken with respect to three spies, not just one, and the results are entertaining and successful. Although the plot line is sometimes a little confusing, and one could stop and ask who is Victoria working for, and she wants to give the bomb to whom? And who is Gaby working for and how did she triple-cross everyone? It doesn't matter. The film is a humorous and absorbing caper, almost irresistibly lively, the kind that was a lot of fun back in the 1960's.