Once upon a time, Russians were always the bad guys in movies. It was perfect with their accents, their appearance and their opposing political ideology. Even more so in the setting of the Cold War when tensions between the USSR and the USA were on a knife’s edge.
So, in setting a spy movie during this hostile period, the obvious avenue would be an ‘Us vs Them’ conflict. However, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. explores an interesting concept…
What if both sides had to work together?
Director Guy Ritchie has never been afraid to approach cinema in a unique way. He did, after all, ditch film school in lieu of creating his own style, and it worked. Following backroom hits like Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Guy Ritchie transcended the indie film circuit by breathing new life into Sherlock Holmes and now reviving an old 1960s TV show into a vibrant, engaging and entertaining spy movie.
Henry Cavill, (Man of Steel) is perfect as Solo, an American embodiment of James Bond: sexy, smart and wily, with an amazing haircut. Similarly, Armie Hammer’s Illya (the Russian Bond-esque spy) is much the same, only stronger with a keen moral compass. In The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the two match up in this hilarious story of two spy agencies teaming up to take down a rogue Italian millionaire who has cracked the to make a nuclear weapon.
Simultaneously Solo and Illya must protect Gaby (Alicia Vikander) – an innocent pawn used as bait to lure her physicist father out of hiding to unravel the whole sinister plot. Hugh Grant also makes a late entrance as head of the British cohort – imagine M from James Bond if it was his first day on the job.
The cinematic approach to this film is refreshing. The pacing is always quick – as is the dialogue – with the constant tug of war between US Bond and USSR Bond evolving into a true friendship that transcends borders. The one-upmanship continues past the banter, with each trying to ‘out spy’ the other with bugs, quips and skills that makes for some genuinely funny sequences as the clichéd characters relish their 1960s setting. The graphics are as old-school as the killer soundtrack, and the production design is distractingly good.
First and foremost, what The Man from U.N.C.L.E. does is remind us why the James Bond films of old are still gold. The real threat of a catastrophic world war was on the minds of Europe and the West, and using this period of tension to make a legitimate spy film clearly works. Throw in a light-hearted tone and a punchy script that is well delivered by its cast and suddenly another Guy Ritchie project gets is on your radar of many for good reasons.
