Man From U.N.C.L.E

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 28th August, 2015
Time : 116 minutes
Director, Co-Writer : Guy Ritchie; Co-Writers: Jeff Kleeman, David C Wilson, Lionel Wigram based on the TV series by Sam Rolfe; Music : Daniel Pemberton
Starring : Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Luca Calvani, Sylvester Groth, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Christian Berkel, Misha Kuznetsov



This one is all style, barely any substance but still quite good fun

It’s 1960, the peak of the Iron Curtain paranoia. An American agent , robber turned spy, Henry Cavill and Russian KGB, Armie Hammer, have to combine with East German car mechanic, Alicia Vikander, to track down her father (Udo), a top Nazi nuclear scientist, who’s disappeared from the USA. The suspicion is he has been taken by a wealthy Italian couple, Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani, known to be Nazi sympathizers, who work closely with his brother, Sylvester Groth, and plan to sell nuclear weapons to the Nazi remnant’s, seeking to make a comeback to the world stage.

One thing you’re guaranteed with a Guy Ritchie film is a pulsating soundtrack, and an attitude to match. This one doesn’t disappoint either front and you get a gaggle of good-looking people too.

I’d never really warmed up to either Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), found him wooden, or Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger), who came across as a bit of a softie, but here they work in their respective roles. Alicia and Elizabeth provide plenty of leggy glamour, while the men strut around in fancy suits, with all posh fashion brands bandied about (What would go better with a Boss belt, a Rabanne suit or a Dior?). The one liners are pithy, crisp and plentiful. The contrast between the leading men well-defined. And everyone lives in this beautiful, happy world while plotting world destruction.

The plot, strangely for a Guy Ritchie film, is the weak link here. Nothing much really happens and what does, doesn’t make complete sense (there would surely be easier ways to do this and surely wealthy, intelligent villains should display more sense ?). But, it’s undeniably fun and you surely wouldn’t mind another film in the series, especially with Hugh Grant, from British intelligence, running the show…