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

If only there were always two Armie Hammers.

In The Social Network, David Fincher duplicated the approximately twelve-foot tall actor to play Mark Zuckerberg’s preppy archrivals, the Winklevoss twins.

Think of how else that technology could have been put to use. There’d be one Armie Hammer to take the fall for The Lone Ranger and another one to remain a viable blockbuster star.

One to cameo in Entourage: The Movie; one to publicly apologise and distance himself from the other.

And one to play Napoleon Solo, the too-suave CIA agent who leads The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as well as one to play Illya Kuryakin, the KGB agent with whom Solo’s reluctantly paired.

Unfortunately, we live in the real world. (This despite Hammer resembling, as Liz Lemon would put it, “a cartoon pilot.”) Director Guy Ritchie, when mounting his big-screen reboot of the 1960s TV series of the same name, saw fit to only cast him in the Kuryakin role.

It’s a part he’s more than equipped to play; certainly Hammer has decent comedic chops, and as a proud yet perpetually perturbed fish-out-of-water with a reputation that needs salvaging, he embodies Illya with good humour and gravitas.

But seriously, how much fun would it have been to see him take on Solo too? Instead, Henry Cavill has the honour. And though Cavill might be the only actor alive Hammer could longingly admire the jawline of, the once and future Superman is a little too stiff and mannered to believe as an American James Bond.

Set amidst the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. sees America and Russia covertly conspiring to take down a common enemy.

Their best men, Solo and Kuryakin, are tasked with securing feisty German mechanic Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) and convincing her scientist father to sabotage the nuclear weapon he’s making for power-hungry billionaire Victoria Vinciguerra (an amusingly devious Elizabeth Debicki) in Italy.

The mission is mostly meaningless, as far as viewer – and even director – interest is concerned. However, it gives our attractive trio a reason to visit Rome, where they wear nice clothes, drive nice cars, and trade knowing double entendres. It’s over in two hours. There may not be a whole lot to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., but on the bright side… there’s not a whole lot to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation aside, this is a welcome respite from other convoluted, overly-plotted actioners.

Sharing a writing credit with Lionel Wigram, Ritchie seems most delighted by scenes in which Solo and Kuryakin’s contentious friendship allows for unlikely battles of wills; I particularly enjoyed their debate over which belt would best match Gaby’s chic new dress. Even better is Gaby’s spunky flirtation with Illya, maybe because in those sequences, there are actually two actors with chemistry sharing the stage.

The action is not nearly as much of a priority to Ritchie as the dialogue, the fashion, and the feel of the film. Entire shootouts are relegated to split-screen collages; one amusing boat-chase is seen only through the rear-view mirror of a parked truck.

This is his thing. Once highly sought for original concoctions, Ritchie has become a studio gun, hired for the same reasons Nanny Fine was initially recruited by Mr. Sheffield: he has style; he has flair; he was there. You don’t bring him on board to develop show-stopping action sequences. You bring him on board to find innovative ways to direct around them. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ends up being an action movie told at a sideways glance. Given the creakiness of this tired genre (and the modesty of the flick’s budget), Ritchie’s thing actually works in this instance.

There are other things that work too. Hammer, Vikander and Debicki are sparkling. I even warmed to Cavill by the time the credits rolled. Considering he’s stepping in for exiting supernovas George Clooney and Tom Cruise – basically a kamikaze mission – his inoffensiveness should be seen as a win.

Hugh Grant and Jared Harris turn up as senior spooks, which is precisely the kind of sentence you’d always hoped to read in a review of a spy picture. They don’t disappoint, limited screen time be damned.

It even ends with the promise of a sequel. I don’t know if we should get carried away here. Still, as a standalone distraction, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is sneaky fun.

3.5/5

In cinemas August 13, 2015. Rated M for violence.