Title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Running time: 1 hr 56 minutes
Genre: Thriller / Action
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is based on a television series aired back in 1964. The film centers on the origin of two characters; Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), an American spy and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), a KGB agent.
Solo was sent to retrieve a woman, Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander) from East Berlin to extract information on her uncle whereabouts. There, he encountered Illya, who shows great determination in stopping him. Finally, Solo managed to get back across West Berlin. However, the next day, he was given a new task... to team up with Illya in order to stop a group from creating their own nuclear weapon.
I have not watched the TV series before, and truth to say, I wasn't impressed by the film's name. If it's not for Henry Cavill (Superman) and Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger), I would truly not have watched this film.
And I was not disappointed. The film have good pacing and it was both serious and funny at times. Armie and Henry made a great team, with good chemistry. Illya is mostly the 'muscle' of the two, but occasionally shows great depth and intelligence, while Solo is portrayed as an arrogant and intelligent spy but with a heart for passion as well.
While the plot is pretty generic, it did have a middle twist that I did not see coming. And thankfully, there's not much screen time for the love scenes which I absolutely abhor. This film sets a good footing to what would be a good movie franchise. However, chances of sequels, in my opinion would be rather rare as both main actors have booked film slots for many years to come.
Observations: I totally loved Illya's "Kiss". The greatest skill of all!!!
Bottomline: For those looking for a fun filled, light hearted action film.
Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0
