Based on the 1964-68 TV series created by Sam Rolfe, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." is an old-school spy caper with droll wit to spare. Being acquainted with said source material might be good for nostalgia's sake, but, as sleekly directed by Guy Ritchie (2011's "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows") and co-written by Ritchie and Lionel Wigram, familiarity isn't a prerequisite. 1960s-retro in nature but thankfully without the casual physical abuse and objectification of women found in Sean Connery-era James Bond, the film drifts from one set-piece to the next while barely working up a sweat. It's pure fluff as far as globe-trotting espionage adventures go and approximately as deep as a kiddie pool, but there is something rather pleasing about its mid-level charms and lack of bombastic fuss. It helps, too, that the cast is perhaps its most winning feature, harkening back to a time when lush scenery and sheer star-quality allure were enough to get viewers through the slightest of plots.
At the height of the Cold War, in a post-Cuban Missile Crisis 1963, two highly skilled specialists from different worlds find themselves joining forces. When American-art-thief-turned-CIA-agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Russian KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) first cross paths, they do not exactly hit it off. As it turns out, though, their missions are precisely the same. Urged by their respective bosses, they begrudgingly team up to infiltrate an undercover criminal organization looking to sell nuclear weapons. Assisting in their efforts is Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), a British mechanic yearning to escape East Germany whose estranged rocket-scientist father (Christian Berkel)—a man who once worked for the Nazis—is rumored to be delivering the cataclysmic warhead to icy Italian aristocrat Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki).
See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review
