Movie Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E

This weekend I saw The Man From U.N.C.L.E, which stars Henry Cavill (as Solo), Armie Hammer (as Illya), and Alicia Vikander (as Gaby).

The story is set in the 1960’s with a backdrop of the cold war and the threat of nuclear weapons spreading. It involves a number of European settings and plenty of action. I must say I have been itching for a classic spy movie (I was planning to get out my Get Smart DVD collection) and this movie fit the bill for me. It was not overly gadget-heavy, but there were some boxy tools they pulled out from time to time and I liked the break from the micro-sized batbelt with everything you need.

I found the settings well done and I didn’t see anything jumping out as being out of place (though I was not watching for that explicitly). The streets were filled with old cars and I even wondered how they had managed to round-up all of them. With computers these days, they could have easily been CG, but if it was, I didn’t notice.

The movie is tied into the old 1964-68 television series with the same name. It is reported that Ian Fleming contributed to the concepts in the original series and if you want some additional details, check out the Wikipedia article on it.

The main focus of the movie, and the series, is a pairing of Solo (an American spy) with Illya (a Soviet spy). While they are ordered to work together, there is still the underlying issues of national pride and competing governments.

Overall, I found the movie well done and would recommend seeing it.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.