Viewing 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Film

Anyone with even a modicum of interest in the spy genre will be aware of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series from the 1960s. It's one of those shows that, even if like me you've seen next to nothing of, you'll be aware of it. It was also a series that seemed set for a big screen incarnation in recent years with everyone from George Clooney to Steven Soderbergh and Tom Cruise reported to be involved. It was only in 2015 that it finally made the leap, directed by Guy Ritchie. The results though were decidedly average.

Part of which is down to its leading men. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, playing CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin respectively, are both good actors in their own right and indeed the film works best when they play off of each other. Yet on their own, like they are for so much of the film, they come across as two of the least interesting leading men who are ever likely to see on the screen. Cavill's American accent and suave persona feel forced (which is odd given the fact he's played perhaps the iconic charismatic American character in pop culture thanks to Superman), though admittedly he looks good in a period suit. Hammer never quite comes across naturally from the action sequences to more comedic moments on his own. Yet put the two together and they work for those scenes, perhaps filling in some of what the performance of the other lacks though separately they're less than the sum of their parts.

The film's supporting cast is a bit better. Of them, Hugh Grant comes across best (indeed he might have the best performance out of the entire cast) though chances are going in you'll know exactly who he is and the film's eleventh-hour plot twist will come as no surprise. The female roles in this role, perhaps befitting its 1960s setting, are sparse and effectively femme fatale roles which Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki play well all things considered. The supporting cast is rounded out by Jared Harris, Luca Calvani, and Sylvester Groth who all do well with what they're given to play with. There's also a neat cameo early in the film for attentive viewers which I must admit gave me a chuckle. Outside of Grant though, no one does anything really remarkable or memorable.

Which is more the fault of the film itself rather than of the cast. There are films which are definite cases of style over substance and this big screen iteration of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a prime example of that. It is a wonderful film to look at some great recreations of mid-1960s Europe from a divided Berlin to Rome and the areas around it. Indeed, the combination of the production design of Oliver Scholl and the costume work of Joanna Johnston give the film its best selling points. Ritchie as a director brings it all together into a nice package with cinematographer John Mathieson. Indeed, it's quite a stylish film in a retro kind of way which isn't a bad thing at all. In fact, if this was a different film, it might even have served it better.

Ultimately the biggest problem with the film on all front is that it just doesn't have much to say. It's very much your typical spy film, even more, typical of the 1960s Cold War setting. As a result, it is utterly predictable once it moves beyond the delightful credit sequence takes the viewer into the 1960s. From that first scene all the way to the end, there's not a single surprise to come out of the film at all despite the best efforts of Ritchie, the score of writers credited, or any indeed of the cast or crew. It's a film that instead relies entirely on its style to mask the biggest shortcoming it has: that it doesn't actually have a compelling story to tell but rather strings a string of clichés together in a stylish way in the hopes that you don't notice.

Unfortunately, both this viewer and apparently audiences at large did notice. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a film that looks great but actually has nothing really going for it. It's not terrible but it's also not great at all. As a way to waste away a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon or evening, you could do worse. For those expecting an original spy thriller or something to indulge in a bit of 1960s nostalgia, you're likely to be disappointed on one level and interested in it on another. Style won out over substance it seems and the result is a film that might be the most "okay" film ever made.