It makes me cry "Uncle!"
The Man from U.N.C.L.E
Grade: C
Director: Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes)
Screenplay:
Cast: Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel)
Rating: PG 13
Runtime: 116 min.
by John DeSando
“Not very good at this whole subtlety thing, are you?” Napoleon Solo [to Kuryakin]
The buddy adventure, so masterfully done in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is not so successful in director Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Although the director watched Butch for inspiration, he needed more than script—he needed the actors to carry off the witty sarcasm of Robert Vaughan and David McCallum from the original ‘60’s TV series. The subtlety mentioned in the above quote is almost completely absent.
The Man is the origin story for the TV program. Unfortunately Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo is no Vaughan—he preens more like Superman on a fashion runway and labors to toss off lines like Sean Connery, or even Roger Moore, did in the Bond series. No better is Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin, a boyishly handsome actor who seems to force out his Russian accent and acerbic comments. That Cavill comes from playing Superman and Hammer from The Lone Ranger may explain their wooden portrayals here. Besides, neither one was first choice for his role here, and it shows.
The plot is familiar to anyone in our culture who has seen a fantasy thriller involving spies and megalomaniacs—in this case the boys need to capture a nuclear bomb from the hands of some bad international maniacs. Yet, the film relies not so much on an intricate plot as it does the give and take among the characters. While there are some solid exchanges, most of the time it all is lame. OK, I’m crying UNCLE!
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
