The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
by Guy Ritchie
Warner Bros.
Set somewhere in the early 1960’s, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a Cold War spy thriller starring the luscious Henry Cavill as American secret agent (and former art thief) Napoleon Solo. Yes, Napoleon Solo. He has to team up with Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), a KGB agent, and Gaby (Alicia Vikander), an East German defector, in order to keep a nuclear weapon out of the hands of some rogue fascists. Shenanigans ensue, and Redheadedgirl and I found them delightful:
Elyse: First of all, this movie was just tremendous fun. It knew it exactly what it needed to be, which was a lot of jazzy chase scenes starring Henry Cavill’s exquisite bone structure.
RHG: I was thinking during the opening scenes that we would need to talk about Henry Cavill’s chin-dimple. Oh, Napoleon!
Elyse: I want to bite that dimple. I went into this blind because I had never seen the TV show so I can’t say how closely the movie mirrors that. That said, for a period piece set in the 60’s, they did a great job with the costumes, the sets, even the colors. The whole movie had kind of a washed out feel, like looking at an old photo.
RHG: I really like Guy Ritchie as a director- I think he has a fun, really dynamic style with fun angles and quick cuts and a good pace (His Sherlock Holmes is one of my comfort movies). And the 60’s aesthetic really works well with that.
It was also a 1000000% good choice to not try to update the setting. Keeping it within the early Cold War context makes so much more sense. Plus the (for now) lo-tech spy toys are so much fun. This whole story could have ended with a cell phone call, but hey. That’s not an option.
Elyse: You could tell this was a Ritchie film. He had a lot of the “nothing is going on in the foreground, hilarity in background” schtick going on.
What really interested me was that Napoleon was not the romantic lead, and really was not terribly heroic. He’s there not out of a sense of patriotism but because he doesn’t want to go to prison (and possibly because he’s bored).
RHG: Yeah, I keep thinking that I should know who Armie Hammer is, when really he’s that dude who’s been in a list of movies I haven’t seen. But I looooooved him and I loved his rapport and chemistry with both Henry Cavill and Alicia Vikander (who is the hardest working woman in Hollywood this year with 7 movies slated for release in 2015).
Illya is in the KGB because Russia, and Gaby is an East German defector and put these three idiots together and make Gaby and Illya pretend to be engaged and Gaby is a girl who can’t quiiiiiiiiite hold her vodka as well as she thinks. Thank god for giant funky sunglasses that hide one’s hangover face.
Elyse: Armie was really the star here. He made up for the disaster that was the Lone Ranger. I think the true OTP in this film was Illya and Napoleon who have to put aside their spy vs spy nonsense in order to save the world. The scene where they hand each other the listening devices in the hallway was excellent.
To me Napoleon was very much an old James Bond archetype–the hyper sexual, morally ambiguous hero. He’s not doing this out of any greater ideal like Illya is, and when it comes right down to it, is not a particularly good person. He’s still charismatic and likable though so the audience wants to follow his exploits.
RHG: Oh, he’s not a “good person” and proves that “likable” and “good” are not synonymous.
So pretty, though. My friend and podcasting co-host Kayleigh called it a GQ shoot come to life. ACCURATE.
So lets talk about the plot a little bit. Bad fascists have a nuclear bomb, and the US and the USSR both agree that anyone else having a nuke is not acceptable- they get to have the biggest dicks in the world! No one else! So they team up. Yay!
Elyse: Honestly the plot didn’t make a ton of sense to me–why were the fascists Italian? Wouldn’t Gaby’s uncle be like “Um, how did you suddenly get out of East Germany?” Why was Gabby a mechanic? Why car races?
Honestly a lot of it felt like set up to a sequel for me, which I’m fine with because I’d watch all the movies about Napoleon, Gabby and Illya doing spy stuff.
RHG: The fascists were Italian because Mussolini, and Gaby’s uncle was….not looking a gift defection in the mouth, I guess? IDK.
Can I make a confession? I had no idea what The Man From U.N.C.L.E. tv show was about. I thought it was space or aliens or something? I have no idea where that came from. NONE. BUT I FUCKING LOVED THIS!
Elyse: What did you think of the Illya/Gabby romance? “So you want to wrestle?”
I totally didn’t expect them to be the romantic pairing. Going into the movie I thought it would be Napoleon and Gaby, mostly I think because the marketing focused heavily on Cavill. I love the idea of Gaby being flirtatious and sexy and Illya having no fucking clue how to handle. Like I would read the shit out a romantic suspense starring those two.
RHG: “I like my women strong.”
Yes, I want it. Especially with her drunk dancing in the background while he’s trying to play chess. Gaby was having nothing to do with Napoleon, and I think he knew she was out of his league, plus he shipped Gaby and Illya, too (as shown by all the space he gave them). Adorbs.
Also a dude from the USSR did a better job of dressing Gaby for her cover than the American dude and that’s fucking hilarious. “My woman would never wear this! She would wear this!” “It doesn’t match!” “IT. DOESN’T. HAVE. TO.”
Elyse: Okay so how did this hold up in terms of all the awesome films starring women we’re seeing? I thought they did a good job with Gaby and the criminal mastermind was a woman so I was satisfied. You?
RHG: Could have been better, but still pretty good. I liked that Gaby was a scrapper, but fought like someone who’s never formally trained how to fight in her life. I also liked how the criminal mastermind was a woman (her arm candy was just there for arm candy, mostly) and dressed all holy fuck this isn’t even an aesthetic I really like, but damn she was amazing.
It was a super white movie. That’s a weakness.
Elyse: I wasn’t super bothered by that because the movie is set in Europe, in the 60’s, and the primary characters are all high-ranking members of the British, American and Russian intelligence agencies. There were a lot of chase scenes, and foreground/background shots as you mentioned, but not many crowd scenes or visual opportunities to show the population of the places they were in. It’s hard for me to evaluate whether it could have been better given the time period and profession the characters were in.
RHG: Are we hitting the point where we grade?
Elyse: I think so. I give it an A. It was fun and holy chin dimple, Batman.
RHG: His chin dimple looks like a tiny butt. A!
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is in theaters now and you can find tickets (US) at Moviefone and Fandango.
Armie Hammer MADE this movie for me. He is 6’5″ and has a gorgeous smile and his character has a scar next to his eye. He needs to my husband . . . He just doesn’t know it yet.
I LOVED the old TV series and am really looking forward to seeing this. From what I have seen in the previews Henry Cavill is seriously channelling Robert Vaughn, right down to the voice and mannerisms. Hammer is playing Ilya much more rough-edged and stereotypically Russian than David McCallum, who played him more as mysterious, inscrutable master-of-disguise. So I will be interested to see their interpretation.
If you get ME TV in your area, you can catch the original show on Sunday nights. The Man From UNCLE was intended to be a James Bond ripoff, full of the Bond sexyness and over-the-top villains trying to take over the world. However I think after a while the scriptwriters started realizing how ridiculous the whole concept was and it became very meta and tongue-in-cheek about its own hyperbole, which was a large part of its charm. It was also one of those shows that was so popular that EVERYBODY wanted to be in it, so in any given episode the guest stars were either well known character actors (Ricardo Montalban as a THRUSH agent! Slim Pickens as a farmer with a nuke secreted in his backyard well I KID YOU NOT!) or up-and-coming stars (in the last few weeks we have had William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in their first appearance together, Daniel J Travanti, and a baby Kurt Russell). Also, in the TV show, Vaughn was the smexy, suave uber-spy who seduced all the ladies, but McCallum turned out to have more of a female fan following in reality, so I find it kind of cool that the movie reflected that.
BTW I saw SPY last night on your recommendation and LOVED it. So I’m getting off the fence about this movie on your rec as well.
I was a fan of the show via re-runs in the 80s when I was a teen, and this movie made me ridiculously happy. The take on Illya is a lot different, but it still works. And Cavill’s Solo is perfection. I’ve seen it twice, I want to see it again, I haven’t had this much fun at the movies in a long time.
Gaby was a mechanic because her adoptive father was. Solo said that when he met her. And the whole Gaby-as-Illya’s-fiancee thing was how they explained to her uncle about getting out of East Germany. He had a visa to go to the West, and so she had one too as his fiancee. Illya and Gaby made my heart melt. When he was in the bathroom/darkroom developing photos and yelling YOUR NEW BOYFRIEND IS A NAZI AND IT’S NOT HAPPENING was adorable. Please give me a sequel that lets them have at least one smooch. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
I was a huge fan of the original series, so I was nervous about what a remake would be like. I adore Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, so I was willing to give the man a chance. And he fulfilled all my desires with this film. Humor and more than adequate and authentic 60s vibe (yes, I’m old enough to remember it very, very clearly).
The addition of Gaby was done very well. After all, how can you have sexy spy magic without the Brits involved? Armie finally got the film and the role that he could shine in. And Henry? He actually has quite a bit of that Napoleon (by way of Matt Bomer from White Collar and Robert Wagner from It Takes a Thief) charm, only even better.
I gave it an A myself. And I definitely hope for a sequel or two. But I’m also waiting for another Sherlock Holmes, so we’ll see what comes first.
The movie had me at Henry Cavill:) Can’t wait to see it!
Loved it. So stylish and funny. Henry Cavill is such a dish – there were scenes where my jaw just dropped at the perfection of his face.
My husband is a huge Guy Ritchie fan so we were destined to see this but I went in blind, never having seen the show or bothering to find out what it was about (I hate any and all spoilers). I was very pleasantly surprised by the hot manness in this film, particularly Armie Hammer. Also, it was fun. Not one of Ritchie’s best films, IMO, but a great way to spend a couple of hours staring at very nice-looking men while sitting beside another.
Hey!! I really enjoyed the Lone Ranger! That was just plain fun.
” I went into this blind because I had never seen the TV show so I can’t say how closely the movie mirrors that.”
I haven’t seen this film, although I want to, but was there the organization U.N.C.L.E in it?
Because in the original TV series, Solo and Kuryakin are members of this organization, working out of NYC. Remember the entrance in the dry cleaner’s? In TOS, Kuryakin was a Russian defector and Solo very much on the side of good stuff even if he was a bit of playboy. To imitate Bond, of course.
I adored this show when I watched it in prime time in the 1960s.
To be completely honest, I couldn’t tell you who any of the leads are with IMDB. It did look like a fun spy movie, though. I do love a good spy movie.
@Gloriamarie The movie is the origin story of how UNCLE is formed. That’s why I’m so hopeful for a sequel.
Oh, thanks. I didn’t pick up on that when I read the review.
I’m pretty sure in TOS that Illya wasn’t a defector – just a Russian working for UNCLE.
huge fan of original loved Illya. their 2nd season they had 50% of tvs turned to their show. Look like the new one, I’ll still favor Illya over Napoleon
This movie was so much fun! I was a huge fan of the original show but I was young enough I don’t remember specifics now, just that it seemed very cool back then. Thanks EC Spurlock for the rerun info on MeTV – will have to check it out.
@Gloriamarie – the formation of U.N.C.L.E. as an organization takes place at the very end of the movie and during the closing credits (some very fun info there, be sure to try to read the dossiers as they come on screen). The rest of the movie they are spys forced to work together by their governments.
I very much doubt that I will be able to afford to see the movie in the theater and will have to wait until it is on TV for free. Given that I usually can’t read or don’t even see the ends credits, I doubt I’ll get to see those dossiers. But that would be fun.
Another person old enough to have watched the original and I had a HUGE crush on Ilya/David. Napoleon/Robert didn’t do much for me at all. I wasn’t allowed to see the James Bond movies but had a lot of fun watching Man from U.N.C.L.E. every week. I almost started watching NCIS just because I found out David McCallum was on it (and, okay, Mark Harmon is also pretty hot) but never got around to it. I thought Lone Ranger was okay though Johnny Depp was a bit much and I’m looking forward to seeing this. Henry and Armie (the best thing about the Facebook movie was seeing him twice as twins), together, oh, my!
I was – er, still am – a huge fan of the original UNCLE series. I don’t know if they deliberately brought in obscure elements from the original, but in the Return of the Man From UNCLE tv special from 1983 Illya had left uncle and become a couture dress designer with a shop called “Uncle Vanya’s” with locations in Paris, New York, London, Vladivostok. Surely, Illya’s fashion sense in the new movie is a homage to that.
I remember that!! George Lazanby, as James Bond, had a cameo.
One of my favorite lines on NCIS is where Zeva asks Gibbs what Ducky looked like as a young man. His answer was Illya Kuryakin.
After seeing the movie, I know I have to see the tv series! (Also, Ducky was Illya Kuryakin??? WHAAAAT?) The movie was a lot of fun. I totally bought the ship – I am ON the ship – Armie Hammer sold the Illya/Gaby ship. On the other hand, the actress who played Gaby? Not so much. I cant tell if its because *she* doesn’t sell it, or if the writers didn’t know what kind of character she was and failed to writer her well (which seems to be an unfortunate trend in hollywood).
If I remember my childhood obsessions correctly, U.N.C.L.E. stood for United Network Command for Law Enforcement. Really, I can’t remember co-workers’ last names, but the U.N.C.L.E. info popped straight to the top of my brain. And it was Illya all the way for me.
Nice job as usual ladies! Totally made me want to see this one! Love both of these guys but i had no idea what it was about (somehow I was expecting a spoof/steve carellesque kind of thing). So sounds good! Can’t wait to see it!
“To me Napoleon was very much an old James Bond archetype–the hyper sexual, morally ambiguous hero.”
Yep. The character was created by Ian Fleming. The intent was to create a Bond-ish character that would be a bit more laid-back, more humorous and less violent, and thus suited for television.
Oh, and yes, David McCallum as Ilya Kuryakin was hands down the sexiest thing on 1960’s TV.
I thought this movie was going to be a dark gritty Cold War film where people will have to deal with the after effects of WWII. I’m actually really glad that it was fluffier than expected because I really needed that.
Gabby/Illya was adorable and I just found Armie Hammer to be super adorable in this film overall.
I’m worried about how they’ll handle a sequel but I will watch it because Henry Cavill is pretty, Illya is adorable and I want to see more of what Gabby gets up to. And I guess there’s Hugh Grant too.
I kept grinning like a loon during this movie because I WAS A HUGE FANGIRL of the original! I collected the Topps Cards to make a poster of Napoleon and Ilya in my bedroom! I loved the “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” spoof where the kids think their dad’s a spy because he uses the NYC dry cleaners that was the seekrit entrance to U.N.C.L.E.’s high tech hdqtrs.
Also? When the hotel clerk welcomed “Mr. Waverly” I nearly broke my poor hubby’s ribs elbowing him in the side so he’d catch it (Leo Carroll was the original).
Anyway, now that I’ve outed myself as geeky and older than dirt, I loved every minute of this movie and hope there will be wonderful sequels.
Those hoping for a sequel shouldn’t hold their breath as this movie bombed at the North American box office and the international take hasn’t been any/much better, so there’s no chance of a followup in the foreseeable future.