Released: August 14th,
2015
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia
Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris, Hugh Grant
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Written by: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram
Personal Bias Alert: knows nothing about the TV series, wasn’t into Sherlock Holmes
7.3 of 10
Warner
Brothers has given us quite an interesting lineup this year. It’s shockingly devoid of surefire hits, the
largest grosser of the year being American
Sniper, which started its theatrical run in 2014. San
Andreas, the out-of-fashion disaster flick comes in second, with the reboot
Mad Max:
Fury Road taking third. To
cap the summer season, the studio gives us one of its more bizarre investments,
a reboot of the 50-year-old television show The
Man from U.N.C.L.E. Sure, it’s a spy
film (which is very in this year), but the movie’s younger target audience is
mostly unaware of the television series, and the film allegedly has moved far enough
from its source material to turn off preexisting fans. This certainly won’t be a huge hit for the
studio, but the film’s good-time jauntiness should have the legs to carry it
well past its $75 million price tag.
Guy
Ritchie, who previously turned Sherlock
Holmes into a hit, helms this origin story, exploring how the multinational
spy unit of the television series formed.
He keeps the ‘60s setting, which proves to be an excellent fit for his
brand of funny, stylish action. Everyone
from the costume and set designers to the actors seems to have enjoyed basking
in the slightly garish looks, which serve as an inescapable bit of flair that reminds
you how unreal all this is. And none of
it is intended to be taken very seriously, as even the action is tuned low enough
to let the whole thing slide down smooth.
After all this summer’s dour CGI punching, it’s a wonderful change of
pace to watch a movie that just wants you to have some fun.
Key
to this fun is Henry Cavill, who stars as American agent Napoleon Solo. He’s all slicked hair and cocky humor, making
for a delightfully lively performance from our current Superman. The character was written for someone to take
a big bite out of, and while Cavill may not have been the most obvious choice,
he turned out to be the perfect one.
Armie Hammer plays his Russian counterpart, who serves as more of a
hulking straight man to Cavill’s overwhelming swagger, but he works the part
well enough. An always welcome Alicia
Vikander rounds out the group as the young woman they’re using to flush out a
nuclear bomb. She’s often reduced to
prancing around in vintage garb (there’s an entire scene about her wardrobe, in
fact), but she gets to poke the boys often enough to stay relevant. The rest of the cast hits their marks in what
are essentially bit parts, chewing on the scenery when needed and exiting with
dignity when our main trio asserts themselves.
What the film comes down to is Cavill, though, and he knocks this thing
straight out of the park.
Providing
audiences with a throwback good time was obviously Ritchie’s main concern, as
he left the plot remarkably light. The
airiness works, though, because it serves the tone so perfectly. This was never intended to be Skyfall, but the setup provides enough
opportunities for some well-designed action scenes. Some are sillier than others, to the point
that one is outright dismissed by one of the characters in the scene, and this de-emphasis
may disappoint those accustomed to having the action be the focal point of
their spy movies. The humor is the true star
here, and even if it gets in the way of an unsurprising plot, it’s delivered so
perfectly that the film’s extraneous downfalls are easy to forgive.
Such
an easily enjoyable film should serve as excellent counter programing to this
week’s other big release, Straight Outta
Compton. This material was never
going to be an easy sell, but its good looks and scallywag appeal should help
it find the laid-back audience it seems to be looking for.
Other
Notes:
Ø This
would have been better if it was about 10-15 minutes shorter.
Ø So
you know Oscar Isaac’s weirdly awesome dance scene in Ex Machina? Well, Alicia
Vikander gets her own this time.
Ø The
end of the café scene is brilliant.
Ø For
some reason I thought Armie Hammer was British.
