"How's THAT for entertainment?"
Hello everyone!
This movie review should have been posted before I posted the one for The Abominable Bride, but my Sherlock enthusiasm got the best of me even though the movie night I spent with my friends watching a trio of agents run around the screen (sometimes like chickens with their heads cut off) was also as enjoyable as the latter one.
Not to mention, I had been DYING to see the movie.
I mean, it's a no brainer here that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was on my list because of the assembled cast, though most notably the principle male leads, namely Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.
Okay, yes, I may have a bit of a crush problem.
I don't deny it!
But take a good, long look at those two and tell me you wouldn't have the same one. It's not like they're two sacks of potatoes, after all.
And the movie, of course, was really good.
The premise is that, in 1963, CIA operative (originally a thief, but then turned to becoming pretty much the most successful member of the agency precisely because of his skill set) Napoleon Solo (who on Earth comes up with these names?) is sent to East Berlin to extract Gaby Teller, the daughter of an alleged Nazi scientist who collaborated with the US. During this process, they are trailed by KGB agent Ilya Kuryakin, and although he almost succeeds, they manage to cross into West Berlin.
Later, reporting to his boss (and after a shot of Cavill wearing an apron), Napoleon once again comes face to face with Ilya, and the two proceed to destroy a public bathroom in their struggles to kill one another before their superiors tell them that the US and Russia are going to be working together (reluctantly), to acquire data from one Vinciguerra family in Rome, who are allegedly building their own nuclear device.
Add into the mix the very irritated Gaby Teller, mask her as Ilya's fiancée, and you have the perfect opportunity for two men to discuss which fashion brand goes with another fashion brand, and a recipe for absolute disaster.
Well, sort of.
In Rome, their different skill sets come to the front, as Solo counsels Ilya on how to react to an apparent mugging (which a KGB agent wouldn't suffer), and the pair manage to settle their ruffled feathers enough to attend an auto racing event to get closer to their tagrets. Each in their own way (through flirtation or through kicking the living daylights out of people), they manage to get information that there is indeed a nuclear device being produced, but they have to figure out where.
Reluctantly (and with a great deal of humour for the rest of us), the two agents work together to infiltrate the Vinciguerra shipping yard, where they find no bomb, but traces of it - and a safe Solo breaks into, triggering an alarm that causes them to hightail it out of there. In a hilarious chase during which the American gets himself lunch while the Russian is chased around in a boat, Napoleon eventually rescues Ilya from drowning before they both hustle back to the city on a Vespa.
Don't laugh.
They barely manage to beat Victoria Vinciguerra, who ends up sleeping with Napoleon (of course), while Ilya remains frustrated, as he and Gabby, despite chemistry, are always interrupted before anything actually happens.
The next day, things take a turn for the worse as Gaby betrays the two agents to the Vinciguerras, causing Ilya to flee and Napoleon to be drugged and taken to, literally, the hot seat, as he is tortured with electricity. In a rather ironic twist of fate though, he's rescued by Ilya, thereby making them even, and they head off after the girl AND the bomb, learning that Gaby is actually an undercover agent for British Intelligence.
You had to figure the Brits wouldn't let this go without a fight.
The Royal Marines help the two get to their destination, after which there ensues a high-speed chase which ends in the untimely demise of the Vinciguerra dandy, although the best part of that whole thing is Ilya tossing around a motorcycle. They only get one of the tapes though - Napoleon pockets it - and the wrong bomb, as the actual one had been taken off the island by Victoria earlier.
Still, with a plan, they follow after her, Napoleon manages to annoy her for long enough that they get her location, and the homing bomb is launched successfully, taking the nuke - and Victoria - with it.
Finishing things off, the agents should have killed each other over the tape, but after Napoleon returns Ilya's wristwatch, a prized possession of his father, they decide instead to burn the thing and not worry about future run-ins anymore. However, Alexander Waverly, Gaby's employer, tells the men that ALL THREE of them have been contracted to him, and a new ageny: U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), and their new mission is now in Istanbul.
The end!
I really, truly hope there might be a sequel, because honestly, these three are much too funny to just ignore after they get going. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, it reminded me a lot about the original James Bond franchise prior to when Daniel Craig took the role, where the main point was to have it be fun, humorous, entertaining, and well, Napoleon Solo pretty much acted more like a Bond than the actor who currently plays him. Armie's Russian accent added to the hilarity, especially his deadpan expression that had me rolling around. The chemistry between the main three actors was perfect, and honestly, I couldn't find a single large fault in the whole movie!
xx
*images and video not mine
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