Movie Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

But first, let's talk about Guy Ritchie. 

The first Guy Ritchie film I saw was also his first, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, a film that just oozes cool out of every frame. It was an introduction to an amazing new cinematic voice, like Reservoir Dogs before it. And it introduced the world to Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. Seriously, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels is the film debut of both Jason Statham and the mighty Vinnie Jones. An amazing soundtrack, multiple plots and double-crosses, and characters bouncing off each other like balls on a pool table after a strong break. And then there's the dialogue, oh, sweet baby Jesus, the dialogue. Look, I've seen Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels a couple of dozen times and I still couldn't tell you what some of the dialogue means. I mean, what does it mean when someone says "keep your Allens on"? It's a film so British the original DVD release came with a Cockney translator. It's a film so British that you'll feel wrong watching it without a pint and some shepherd's pie. And it's so much fun that it just might cure whatever ails you. I love Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. I truly do. 

He followed up Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels with Snatch. Any worries of a sophomore slump were kicked into the gutter crying after about the first 5 minutes. Like Tarantino before him, Guy Ritchie saw his debut film as a challenge and somehow made an even more fun, more exciting and even cooler follow-up. A soundtrack so good I'm listening to it right now while I write this thing. Dialogue so much fun, so quotable I find myself at least once a week asking someone, "d'ya like dags?" If you've never watched Snatch, stop whatever it is you're doing, find a copy and watch it now. I'll be still here when you're done.

Amazing, isn't it? Thought you'd like it. Brad Pitt, eh? I know, I know. Anyway, back to this thing.

And then came the Madonna Years. Unlike Tarantino, Ritchie married Madonna. And the films he made during that marriage suffered from either hubris or apathy and/or being married to one of the biggest pop culture icons of the last century. A remake of Swept Away was followed by Revolver and RocknRolla. I'm sure there's something in there for someone, I've just never made it through them. They all suffered from the one ailment that never affected his first two films - they're boring. Not bad, not good. Just boring. 

He hit the ground running after his divorce with his first solid blockbuster, Sherlock Holmes. Before its release, a lot of clickity-clacking online was about Guy Ritchie becoming a director-for-hire, about selling out his vision for mainstream success. No-one should've worried. Sherlock Holmes and its sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows are both distinctly Guy Ritchie projects. The humour, the look of the films, the jumping back and forth through time to fill in the plot. They may be a little shallow, but they're never boring, never not fun. They're Guy Ritchie films, just Guy Ritchie with a giant toy box at his disposal.

Which will, eventually, bring us to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. We'll get there, soon. Trust me on this. 

Let's just take a small detour and jump into the wayback machine. Set it for 1998.

The summer of 2015 has, in a small though not insignificant way, become the Bizzaro World 1998. Both The Avengers and Blade were released that summer. The Avengers was based on a very quirky, very British tv series from the 60s. And Blade was based on a comic book. Dump trucks full of money were spent on The Avengers and it failed spectacularly. The film is consistently mentioned whenever the topic of Worst Film Ever Made is brought up. Blade was the underdog, a comic book movie coming out when comic book movies were bad, bad, bad. After Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and The Shadow and The Phantom, no-one was lining up to see anything based on a comic book. The expectations at the beginning of the summer of 1998 were that The Avengers would be the blockbuster, Blade would be the answer to a trivial pursuit question. Instead, Blade is the movie that jump started the comic book movie thing we are still living through. And The Avengers is still considered one of the worst things Sean Connery was ever involved in.

In the last few weeks we've seen these events repeat themselves. But this time, the expectations were the comic book movie was the guaranteed winner and the movie based on a very quirky, very British tv series would be the footnote. Instead, conventional wisdom has failed us again. Fantastic Four is so mind-meltingly bad it will probably end some careers. And The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is fun and smart and fun and funny and fun and entertaining and fun. 

The temptation to update The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to a more current setting was probably a strong pull for the money people financing this movie. I'm glad the money people financing The Man From U.N.C.L.E. left Guy Ritchie to his own. By setting the movie in the 60s, it allowed him to cast actors that look like they just parked their Ferrari Spyder California, like they just left a screening of La Dolce Vita, like they just walked off the set of an Antonioni film. Very glamorous, very stylish, very much of a different time. Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki look like they just stepped from the pages of a European copy of Vogue from the summer of 1962. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, strong jawed and both over six feet tall, don't look like anyone else acting today.

The movie isn't perfect, but it is fun. Sure, it's uneven and the pacing is odd and some of Guy Ritchie's ticks feel a little forced, but, damn, it is amazing to look at and fun to watch. After the migraine inducing mess of Fantastic Four, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is like a cool adult beverage on a hot summer day. It's worth your time and your money, Kellie. 

Podcast sidebar. It's been a while since I recommended a podcast. I think, if you enjoy movie talk and talk about movies, you should check out The Projection Booth. In each episode, the gang dissects a film, taking it apart, talking about it and talking to some of the people involved. Most of the episodes run longer than the film they're talking about, so trying to binge a few is seriously not recommended. They're on iTunes and on the intertubes. Just go clickity-clack and you'll find them easy enough.