‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ Review

Director Guy Ritchie’s “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” isn’t really “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” It’s actually a feature film prequel to the very popular — and hip for its time — 1960s spy spoof TV series of the same name (starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum), and as such has to be evaluated as a standalone thriller — U.N.C.L.E. doesn’t appear until the fading moments of the film. That being said, this U.N.C.L.E. is a distant relative to Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes,” offering a mix of action, slapstick, comedy and tongue-in-cheekery that worked so well in that 2009 Robert Downey Jr.-Jude Law adventure, but that here just doesn’t congeal. At the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s, a neo-Nazi criminal group is working on creating a nuclear bomb to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. Called into action are CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), who are forced to work together to track down a German scientist responsible for the bomb. Their only lead is the scientist’s daughter (Alicia Vikander), and the threesome travel from East Germany to Italy to put the criminal organization out of business. With a humdrum, by-the-numbers storyline and zero chemistry between the three leads, this U.N.C.L.E. is all style and little substance. Solo’s flip retorts and Kuryakin’s outbursts of anger grow tiresome after awhile, and even the cool cars, the stunning clothes and the gorgeous scenery cant pull this from a quagmire of spy drudgery. Vitals: Director: Guy Ritchie. Stars: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris, Hugh Grant. 2015, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 116 min., Action Adventure, Box office gross: $45.391 million, Warner. Extras: “A Higher Class of Hero” featurette. Blu-ray adds “Spy Vision: Recreating ’60s Cool,” “Metisse Motorcycles: Proper — and Very British,” “The Guys from U.N.C.L.E.,” “A Man of Extraordinary Talents,” “U.N.C.L.E: On-Set Spy.”