The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

"Not very good at this whole subtlety thing, are you?"

Napoleon Solo (Cavil) is a former thief, turned top American CIA agent.  He is sent to East Germany to rescue mechanic Gaby Teller (Vikander).  During the mission he encounters top Russian KGB agent Ilya Kuryakin (Hammer) and the two instantly dislike each other.  They are forced to work together, along with Teller, to stop a group of Nazi sympathizers, the Vinciguerra's, from using Teller's father to build a nuclear weapon.

The 3 reluctantly agree to the plan and travel to Rome.  Kuryakin and Teller pose as an engaged couple and meet with Teller's Uncle Rudi (Groth), who works for Alexander (Calvani) and Victoria Vinciguerra (Debicki).  Solo also goes undercover as an antiques dealer and charms Victoria.  Can they put aside their allegiances and distrust to work together and stop the Vinciguerra's?


The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a TV show from 1964-1968.  It was created by Ian Fleming (writer of the James Bond series), Norman Felton, and Sam Rolfe.  The series starred American actor Robert Vaughn as Solo and Scotish actor David McCallum as Kuryakin, with Leo G. Carroll as Waverly.  The series was popular and spawned a sequel The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. from 1966-1967, starring Stefanie Powers.

Since the 1990s there has been interest in developing the series into a feature film.  Each time there were issues with the project, until director Guy Ritchie signed on in 2013.  Ritchie co-wrote the screenplay with Lionel Wigram and also served as a producer.

The script serves an origin story to the original TV show.  It is set in the 1960s, keeping the same timeline as the series and allowing them to operate at a different time period than most spy series (i.e. James Bond and Mission: Impossible and the Bourne films, which are all set in modern times).  Ritchie wanted the film to be a nice mixture of humor and serious with plenty of action.

They cast British actor Henry Cavil as Solo.  Cavil is best known for currently portraying Superman in Zach Snyder's DC films.  American actor Armie Hammer takes on a Russian accent to breathe life into Kuryakin.  Swedish actress Alicia Vikander is their German ally, Gaby, and French actress Elizabeth Debicki is the femme fatale.

I can't remember ever watching the TV show (or the spin-off), so I don't know how it stacks up against it's source material.  But as a modern action flick, it works well.  Cavil and Hammer work well together, with an easy repartee.  Hammer and Vikander have a strong screen chemistry.  The film is funny and moves at a good pace, with enough plot and action to keep your attention.

The ending sets up potential sequels, although there are no plans at this time to make more films in this series.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) 116 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for action violence, some suggestive content, and partial nudity
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Henry Cavil as Napoleon Solo
Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin
Alicia Vikander as Gabriella Teller
Elizabeth Debicki as Victoria Vinciguerra
Jared Harris as Saunders
Hugh Grant as Alexander Waverly
Luca Calvani as Alexander Vinciguerra
Sylvester Groth as Uncle Rudi