The Man from U.N.C.L.E. continues Guy Ritchie's return to form.
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Elizabeth Debicki
Rating: (M)
Three stars (out of five)
This remake of the classic 1960s television series about a United States and Russian spy duo, written and directed for the big screen by Ritchie, is an amusing and entertaining film fit for our time.
The Cold War aesthetic is in full flourish - debonair men, sultry women, gorgeous fashion, sumptuous hotels, split-screen action scenes, all to a backdrop of jazz-pop and impending doom - as Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) and Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) are thrown together to save the world from the nefarious plans of a shadowy global criminal organisation.
It is not deep, it is not complicated.
But that is not the sort of film Ritchie set out to make when he choose not to go to film school in order to avoid making boring and unwatchable films.
He seemed to lose his mojo while married to Madonna.
But with that behind him, he hit his straps again with Sherlock Holmes.
Perhaps Doyle's creation is Ritchie's talisman - the arch-enemy of the U.N.C.L.E. organisation, the shadowy and evil T.H.R.U.S.H., was founded by the successor of Holmes' nemesis, Professor Moriarty.
Whatever the cause, he has undoubtedly got the action, humour and style recipe right again in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Bruce Munro
