After James Bond became a major sensation in the early ’60s, spy movies became massive hits. This led to a wave of TV shows with secret agents showing up every week to look cool and save the world. Every channel seemed to have a double agent. The list included Mission: Impossible, I Spy, Secret Agent, The Prison, The Saint, The Avengers, Wild Wild West, Get Smart and most important for this review was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The series was a different from the others because it had American agent Napoleon Solo (Bullitt‘s Robert Vaughn) teaming up with Soviet agent Illya Kuryakin (NCIS‘s David McCallum) to fight the evil THRUSH. The show lasted four seasons. While the other films seemed to get repeated on local TV when I was a kid, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was never on the dial. It was a show read about in books and referenced in other films and TV shows. I didn’t really get to enjoy The Man From U.N.C.L.E. until the briefcase with the complete series DVD arrived in 2008. While nearly all of the other spy shows would find themselves adapted to modern feature films, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. wouldn’t get a remake until the summer of 2015.
While other spy films were updated to contemporary times, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. takes place at the height of the cold war in the early 1960s. Berlin is still a divided city with the communists erecting a giant wall around West Berlin to keep their people from escaping to freedom. Napoleon Solo (Man of Steel‘s Henry Cavill) goes through Check Point Charlie and visits a small garage. Working there is Gabby Teller (Ex Machina‘s Alicia Vikander), a rather resourseful mechanic. But Solo doesn’t need his car fixed. Turns out Teller’s father is a nuclear scientist. Solo needs to smuggle her out as part of a CIA mission. She’s not wanting to go, but talking to a CIA agent won’t be good for her in East Berlin. She accepts Solo’s offer, but it’s not an easy escape. They are pursued by KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (The Lone Ranger‘s Armie Hammer) who makes getting over the wall a risky affair. When Solo and Gabby are safe in the West Berlin, things get complicated as Illya shows up. But this is not CIA double cross on Solo. Turns out that the KGB and the CIA need to team up for a greater good. CIA head Adrian Sanders (B. Monkey‘s Jared Harris) and Alexander Waverly (Four Weddings and A Funeral‘s Hugh Grant) approve the mission since it will save the earth. Victoria (The Crown‘s Elizabeth Debicki) and Alexander (The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Luca Calvani) are heirs to the Vinciguerra family empire and Nazi sympathizers. They are suspected to be making their own atomic bomb using Teller’s research. Even though Solo and Illya despise each other, they both go undercover and make Gabby part of their plan. She can get them access to the Vinciguerras with her family ties. But how long can these agents work together before their old ways crop up between them?
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. came at the end of the adapting spy shows to big screen projects and is the most entertaining. Mission: Impossible might be more successful, but it doesn’t really reflect the TV series outside of the theme song. What makes U.N.C.L.E. work is director Guy Ritchie giving us a taste of the ’60s on the screen. It’s fun to watch for the scenery and the fashion. The music adds to the atmosphere. Henry Cavill does a fine American accent for Solo. He might not have studied Robert Vaughn’s approach to the character, but he gives him the same swagger. Alicia Vikander does more than get yanked around the screen. She becomes a third partner on the screen. While this wasn’t true of the TV series, it helps the movie become a bit more well-rounded instead of an extended Spy Vs. Spy comic. Elizabeth Debicki plays a villain that knows how to drop a bomb on anyone in her way. The cast keeps the up the spy suspense action. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. feels like an elevated version of the TV show so that you’re happy to see this relative drop by for the evening.
The individual Blu-ray release comes with the same bonus features as the 4K UHD version.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. Things look great in 4K UHD so you can enjoy the gritty nature of East Berlin and the swinging style of the Italian action. The Audio is Dolby TrueHD 7.1. Things sound so sharp in the surround sound speakers. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary features Bryan Reesman & Max Evey gets into the historical context of the times in the film. Bryan talks about his visits to Berlin and how things operated on the divided city that was once located in middle of communist East Germany. They point out David Beckham’s cameo.
The Hollywood Way (16:14) is a new interview with co-writer/producer Lionel Wigram. Gets into his love of film in the ’60s. His neighbor growing up was Elliot Kasner American film producer and he begged him for a job. He helped out on Oxford Blues. After he graduated from school, he went to Hollywood to work for the producer. He hooked up with Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes. This is what led to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. They were fans of spy films and eager to make their own. He gets into adapting the project since other screenwriters/producers had been trying to adapt. He gets into keeping the film in the Swinging ’60s. He claims their first choices were cast in the roles.
A Lineage of Bad Guys (15:26) is a recent chat with actor Luca Calvani about being a villain in a spy flick. He did movies and TV in America and Europe. He was perfect for the role of the Italian aristocrat. He gets into working with Guy on the set.
Legacy of U.N.C.L.E. (28:38) has Helen McCarthy, David Flint and Vic Pratt talk about the original series. They talk about how the show evolved out of a dinner a Hollywood studio producer had with Ian Fleming. The series changed from cold war to an international agency fighting a different criminal organization that the US and USSR had to fight together. They talk about how the third season reflected the “camp” that came in during the arrival of Batman. But season 4 (the last year) had it a bit more serious.
Cockneys and Robbers (25:13) has Kat Hughes, Hannah Strong and Josh Saco discuss Guy Ritchie’s filmography. They start with Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells. He became the British version of Tarantino except with faster editing. His stepmother was a Baroness, and his mother married a Knight so he’s a bit posh. He skipped film school and just worked in the industry. He met Matthew Vaughn and they began making films.
Spy Vision: Recreating 60s Cool (8:32) allows the costume designers and set designers explain what lengths they went to make the film swing on screen. The actors talk about how the wardrobe got them into characters.
A Higher Class of Hero (7:12) has Wigram talk how Ritchie films his action scenes to make them feel fresh. They show how during the chase scene, the stunt drivers were on top so the actors could sit inside the actual car.
Metisse Motorcycles: Proper and Very British (4:46) has Armie Hammer talk about dealing with the vintage motorcycles. We visit the motorcycle workshop.
The Guys From U.N.C.L.E. (4:55) gives us how Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer got into the roles. Cavill approached the character from the script, so he wasn’t doing a Robert Vaughn impersonation.
A Man of Extraordinary Talents (3:13) gets into what Guy Ritchie is like on the set. He plays chess with cast and crew. He even learned the guitar on this shoot.
U.N.C.L.E: On-Set Spy Featurettes (5:02) includes behind the scenes snippets about the water scene, a wrestling the hotel moment, how they found a helicopter from Goldfinger and recreating a photo that featured the grandfathers of Hugh Grant, Guy Ritchie and another crew members.
Theatrical Trailer (2:35) takes us back to the days of the Cold War and a strange union between rivals.
Image Gallery has 33 photos from behind the scenes, press photos and the posters.
Double-sided fold-out poster that’s suitable for framing.
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Barry Forshaw, and a reprinted article from CODEX Magazine on the film’s cinematography
Arrow Video presents The Man From U.N.C.L.E: Limited Edition. Directed by Guy Ritchie. Screenplay by Guy Ritchie and Lionel Wigram. Starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Sylvester Groth, Christian Berkel, Luca Calvani, Misha Kuznetsov, Jared Harris & Hugh Grant.
