Yet another television series from the Boomer generation has spawned a big screen adaptation, as director Guy Ritchie takes his trademark style, brought forth exceptionally well in the Robert Downey, Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies, and wraps it around “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, based upon the Robert Vaughn/David McCallum spy show of the 1960’s.

 

The movie is a lot of fun with a generous dose of charm and well-placed humor. Henry Cavill plays Napoleon Solo; a former self-trained and highly motivated international criminal whose skill set is roped into usage by the CIA. Being a fan of the original series, I have to say that Cavill does a wonderful job of channeling Robert Vaughn’s manner and style. Whether the filmmakers fully intended this or not; being that most reboots tend to merely grab names and attempt to completely reinvent many aspects of a previously established title with little trace of what came before (see Denzel Washington in “The Equalizer”), Cavill brings us a true to the original cunning, charismatic and refreshingly charming super spy.

 

But here’s one very curious aspect: Why wasn’t Henry Cavill allowed to enrich his performance in “Man of Steel” with a similar lively performance? The role of Superman would have been much better rounded and appreciated as opposed to vilified for being dull and flat. Cavil could have actually reached the heights of Christopher Reeve if allowed because clearly he has it in him. Very strange.

 

Arnie Hammer masterfully portrays Russian agent Illya Kuryakin, who along with Solo are enlisted each by their own governments to work together to locate a stolen nuclear warhead. David McCallum’s Kuryakin was a bit soft spoken with a highly tuned skill set, while Hammer’s version is a bit more physically aggressive and bold; a very nice touch that sometimes adds the right amount of humor at opportune moments.

 

A sinister woman by the name of Victoria Vinciguerra, played by Elizabeth Debicki, who leads a mysterious international criminal organization, is in possession of the warhead and will exercise her independent judgment outside of nations rule to use it. I can’t say that Debicki rises above others as far as villainous, but the buddy aspects of Cavill and Hammer’s main characters while going after her make up for this enough.

 

Also thrown into the mix is Alicia Vikander, slyly affective as Ava, the experimental android in “Ex Machina”, here portraying Gaby Teller; a West German wild card who is the key to finding the scientist responsible for helping Vinciguerra with the stolen bomb; and who just happens to be Gabby’s father. Teller’s allegiance is almost as mysterious as Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust in “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation”, yet not quite as intricately written. In a smaller yet very welcome role, Hugh Grant plays Mr. Waverly, who fans of the show will recognize as the head of U.N.C.L.E., although his identity during very minor appearances throughout the first two acts of the movie remains ambiguous until the very end.

 

Setting this story in the 1960's is a very nice touch, and keeping with the Cold War mentality of the original series. Daniel Pemberton's score fittingly echoes that era, and the inclusion of several well-placed 60's songs from the likes of Roberta Flack, Louis Prima and other perhaps lesser known artists of the time playfully takes us back to a period when spy gadgets were low tech yet still very, very cool to the likes of the boomer generation.

 

Going up against Victoria Vinciguerra, the US and Russia realize they need to join forces; not unlike in the original 1960’s series when an organization named T.H.R.U.S.H. was considered so dangerous an organization that even governments who were ideologically opposed to each other — such as the United States and the Soviet Union — had cooperated in forming and operating the U.N.C.L.E. organization. Similarly to this new big screen version, when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the story was held to a minimum. Vinciguerra does not outwardly represent T.H.R.U.S.H., but if more movies are made I’m sure the globally criminal organization will surface.

 

All of this rotates around to whether or not younger audiences who never even heard of the original “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” will enjoy this reboot without connection to that TV series. The answer is yes, although the new film could have benefited from a slightly better script. Momentary flashbacks to reveal a tricky spy play, at times utilizing cleaver editing, are used affectively but not as uniquely as they could have been. Action sequences are well staged, although I think we’re all drunk on what we saw this summer in “Furious 7” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” to think anything else could ever match these high-bar setters.

 

What’s key in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E” is the shaky comradery between Cavill’s Solo and Hammer’s Kuryakin, which goes beyond the less-then-resonant bad guys they attempt to thwart. While I hoped for sooner, the U.N.C.L.E. organization isn’t even revealed until right before the end credits, and not with as much weight as when specifics are briefly revealed in pre credit-companion graphics. This film is in a way a pre-U.N.C.L.E. story. And on a very minor note, being a fan of the original show, I was hoping that somewhere during the course of the movie they were going to play Jerry Goldsmith’s theme song. It’s listed in the end credits yet I did not hear one note of it.

 

If you see “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, mostly go for Cavill and Hammer’s international buddy element, which works well enough. ✩✩✩ (3 stars)

REVIEW: "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." by David Blanchard