THE MAN FROM UNCLE (2015), A Quick Review

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in THE MAN FROM UNCLE, a Review

The other day I had the chance to catch "The Man From Uncle, " starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander.

The description of the film reads as follows,

"In the early 1960s, CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Hammer) participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons."

It's written and directed by Guy Ritchie. ("Sherlock Holmes" films, "RocknRolla")

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When I was watching "The Man From UNCLE," I was hard-pressed to stay entertained. The front half of the film was heavily populated with period, artsy music and there was a lot of set up scenes that seem to over-populate the first act.

In some cases, I think this would be appreciated by some, but for those who like the classic, actioner spy movies, it might be considered a bit slow in opening development.

It was for me.


Once you get into the middle act, things start to gradually pick up pace, for the film.

To be honest, I might not have been in the right frame of mind, but the film seemed slow to me. It reminded me of the movie "Hanna," a film about a a sixteen-year-old assassin, but the entire movie was her journey through life after her father was killed. With very little action what so ever.  Or the Ryan Gosling starrer, "Drive," where all the ads for the movie were fast action scenes. And it turned out they were the only driving action scenes in the movie. They were both good movies, but the wrong people were baited into seeing them, and thus, created a hornet's nest of opinions.

So UNCLE wasn't quite that different form the previews or disappointing.

The relationships started simple but became complex, given the nature of spies. The interaction between Cavill and Hammer are subtle but funny, considering they are forced to pair up and work together, where Cavill is more the crook while Hammer is more the classic spy.

Of course Cavill pulls off debonair like it's no one else's business. But overall, the film drummed out a seemingly dull story line, hiding it in the fancy cinematography.

I'd give it a 6/10.

But because of the nature of how the film was put together, with less focus on the action and more focus on the task and characters, I do think this film would appeal to others.

At this point in time, I have not seen news of a sequel. Which if kind of a shame because a sequel would have given the creative team the chance to spruce it up and fix some of the aspects that felt off the first time. Plus, they kind of ended it with a bit of an open ending.

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The preview below is pretty representative of the film... and about half the action is in this trailer.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8GbSw3ApZA


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