2015 is the year of spy movies and to end the Summer box office season we got 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E'. 'UNCLE' is directed by Guy Ritchie ('Snatch' and 'Sherlock Holmes') and stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Armie Hammer (The Social Network), and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina). 'UNCLE' is set during the early 1960's during the Cold War and two unlikely special agents are teamed up to take down a mysterious criminal organization. Napoleon Solo (Cavill), a top tier CIA Agent and Illya Kuryakin (Hammer) a KGB operative are an unlikely team but they must put aside their differences to save the world.
'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' in my eyes had the potential to be one of the biggest surprises of the year and sadly I'm a little letdown. The lead cast is undeniably great, I'm a huge fan of Guy Ritchie's directing style, and I adore spy movies but 'UNCLE' never seemed to hit it's stride. The opening chase scene was bar none the movie's greatest scene and it's what I wanted the most out of this film, except we got needless exposition, hit or miss (mostly miss) humor, and no substance to the story whatsoever.
Throughout you can constantly see Ritchie's style taking part in the film but it adds nothing to the story and it just makes the movie more boring than it should be. You're seeing all these rich visuals but it just leaves a bland taste in your mouth making you thirst for great action and a strong narrative.
The biggest positive of this film is the chemistry between the three leads. You can tell they all had a great time making this movie and I would like to see these three in an 'UNCLE' sequel, but based off of early box office estimates it doesn't seem like 'UNCLE' is going to have a big weekend. This property has a huge ceiling and there is only room for improvement, I would like to see a different director helm the sequel if it is greenlit, because Ritchie doesn't seem like the right guy for the job.
In conclusion, 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' is a film that you should go check out if it's the best available film when you visit your local theater. Other than that I would go check out something else first. A very uneven film, boring, the style over-weighs the substance but at least the characters were likable thanks to the cast.
I give 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' a 6.5/10