In the past three weeks we’ve gotten two major motion pictures that are based on 1960s spy TV shows. Sure, Mission: Impossible has been a movie series for long enough now that it’s pretty much become its own thing, completely differentiated from its small screen origins, but that doesn’t take away from its fairly humble beginnings. The show was great (based on the little that I’ve actually seen of it) and the Tom Cruise films have, more or less, continued that tradition of excellence.
Joining that stellar franchise on the silver screen this week is The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a show that my mother assures me was the bomb back in the olden days before color had come to the world and people dressed exclusively in the skins of animals that they had hunted and consumed. It starred Robert Vaughn, who you might know as the villain in such classics as Superman III and Pootie Tang*, and David McCallum, who is best known today as the coroner on NCIS, a show only watched by those old enough to remember The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Vaughn played an American spy who was teamed up with the Soviet McCallum, and the two of them kept the world safe from whatever it was that threatened people in the ’60s besides communism.
In the film adaptation directed by Guy Richie (Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) stars as the awesomely named American, Napoleon Solo, and Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger) is Soviet superman**, Illya Kuryakin. They are tasked with retrieving a nuclear bomb and a nuclear scientist from an Italian shipping corporation with old ties to Mussolini and the Nazis. They’re aided in their mission by the scientist’s estranged daughter (Alicia Vikander, from Ex Machina) who has her own reasons for participating. The actual plot gets a bit convoluted at points, but what it all comes down to is two spies, competing to retrieve a McGuffin with a little bit of humor thrown in. It’s never as light or as insufferably goofy as fellow ’60s spy adaptation I, Spy, but it’s significantly more smiling than Mission:Impossible.
Its basically this
The TV show was developed with help from Ian Fleming, the man who created James Bond, and it’s not hard to see the influence of that franchise here. But the other major influence appears to be Ocean’s Eleven and it’s sequels. The music is up tempo and cool, and it perfectly fits the editing, especially during the action scenes. Unfortunately, Richie also tries to emulate the heist aspect of those movies.
Now, anyone who knows me or has read my Ant-Man review knows that I love a good heist, so a spy story with a caper aspect should be right up my ally. The problem is that, instead of having one or two main threads that get resolved right at the end, U.N.C.L.E. peppers tiny little thefts throughout the film, and then immediately cuts back and shows us how it was pulled off. Or we hear one side of a conversation, and then a minute later we hear both sides together. This means that almost all of the suspense is immediately relieved instead of being allowed to build for a longer period of time. I’m sure that a lot of people are really going to like this, but I found it annoying as all hell.
Other than that the action holds up fairly well. This is a spy movie that’s actually interested in the sneaking around and breaking into places aspects of spying, as opposed to non-stop brawling and explosion causing (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I also love that the stakes are relatively low. Sure there’s a nuke on the loose and the fate of the world is in play, but it centers around just a few key characters and the majority of the run time takes place solely in and around Rome. There’s no globe hopping or crazy big cast . Everything that’s going to happen is going to happen here and now and you know exactly who is doing what.
It should also be noted that the car chase that opens the movie might only be second to the opening chase scene in 2011’s Drive. I can give U.N.C.L.E. no higher praise than that!
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is not a perfect film. It has its fair share of issues and I think that it pales a bit in comparison to Mission: Impossible. But its flaws are relatively small and I had an overall enjoyable experience watching it. The action was tense, the jokes all hit, and say what you will about Guy Richie, but dude has some fucking style. And now that I’ve admitted to liking this, my mom will probably force me to watch the entire TV series, A Clockwork Orange-style. That should be…fun.
*Raise your hand if you expected to hear a Pootie Tang reference today. Be honest.
** See what I did there?
