English director Guy Ritchie may not have a signature style, but from “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” to his “Sherlock Holmes” reboot, you can tell what styles he likes — in movies, music, and fashion.
Here appropriating the 1960s American TV series of the same name (which I’ve never seen), you can tell that he favors narrow ties, cufflinks, good manners, tailored suits and tailored dresses, old mechanical watches, vintage Ferraris and Jaguars, island lairs, Nina Simone and Tom Zé, and the Cold War codes that give nostalgic context to it all. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” isn’t a good movie, especially compared to the latest “Mission: Impossible,” but Ritchie is certainly generous about sharing his tastes and influences.
It’s 1963 East Berlin, JFK is still alive, and ex-blackmarketeer Napoleon Solo (Brit Henry Cavill, the latest Superman) is trying to extract the daughter of a missing nuclear scientist. Gaby Teller is played by the Swedish Alicia Vikander, on a hot streak with “Ex Machina,” “Testament of Youth,” and now this new franchise.
In a typical bit of Ritchie’s lad humor, Gaby first presents as a grubby Lada mechanic, but the ever-suave Solo knows she’ll clean up nicely, heh-heh. Women, including the movie’s chief villainess, are very much objects of unruffled style who confound the CIA’s Solo and his KGB counterpart Illya Kuryakin (American Armie Hammer, who played those arrogant Social Network twins).
Kuryakin and Solo meet as rivals, pummel each other into mutual respect, and generally act like two overprotective uncles around Gaby. There’s scant sexual tension to this Cold War bromance.
The stolen-nukes plot is basically a lift from every James Bond movie, and Ritchie doesn’t take his pastiche seriously for a second. Our handsome trio trots around Italy in high style — cue Gaby’s makeover, with her two uncles surprisingly savvy about women’s fashion! — until they meet their even more glamorous and icily lethal adversary: Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki).
Her designer frocks and eye makeup suggest mid-career Elizabeth Taylor; such is Ritchie’s omnivorous love for retro chic in this brisk, fun, shallow film that the exact period particulars don’t really matter. (They often tend toward the late ’60s, and I kept expecting Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway to appear by CGI magic.)
As Ritchie retrofits modern action-comedy tropes onto the Ian Fleming era, he keeps the tone light. Neither of his two heroes seem much concerned about nuclear annihilation; and in the movie’s best bit, Solo gets ejected from a boat chase — then has a picnic while watching the mayhem, just like us popcorn-munching spectators. Later he asks Kuryakin (and by extension, Ritchie), “Not very good at this whole subtlety thing?”
Well no, but that’s not why we’re buying tickets.
“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”
Based on the ’60s TV series, this “U.N.C.L.E.” sees American Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Russian Ilya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) linking up with comely German car mechanic Gaby (Alicia Vikander) to combat lingering Nazis in Cold War Germany. Director Guy Ritchie has crafted a highly stylized spy flic, but there’s very little under the surface.
Rating: PG-13, for action violence, some suggestive content, and partial nudity.
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Cinebarre Mountlake Terrace, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood Cinemas, Meridian, Sundance Cinemas Seattle, Thornton Place Stadium 14, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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