I get every other Friday off and this week after dropping the kid off at school, going to eat breakfast, and a bit of shopping, we went to see “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” a spy flick with a wry sense of humor.
It features two bon vivant spies, Napolean Solo, a smooth talking thief who now works for the CIA and Illya Kuryakin a brutish, strong, hot tempered KGB spy. These two guys are balanced by the luscious Alicia Vikander playing Gaby, a car mechanic from East Berlin.
All I am going to tell you about the movie is that it is set in the early 1960’s when the Cold War could turn hot any second. An evil worldwide criminal organization has kidnapped Gaby’s father, a renown nuclear physicist, to make the most powerful atomic bomb ever known! So the two spies, who don’t like each other by the way, must work with the beautiful Gaby to find her father, and disable the bomb. I bet you couldn’t see that coming could you?
So why did I like this movie? The plot was good, the actors were good, lots of action, good cinematography, and all that? All that was great but what I liked about this movie was the 1960’s vibe. You know the early 1960’s elegant movie style. The two spies were bon vivants who got into a hilarious argument about proper accessories while in a high fashion salon when Gaby was dress shopping. The spies wore smart suits with ties and had sterling manners and nothing fazes them (except sometimes for Kuryakin). I loved the Jaguars and other vintage sports cars, the 1960’s soundtrack, the elegant hotels, and restaurants and the proper crystal glassware. Gaby’s fashions. Plus she looks pretty darn good in just regular old pajamas. she kind of acts like a princess but also offers to clean out the jets on the carburetor of a race car. (And the 1960’s race cars are so much more elegant than what we now have, in my opinion.) The movie is set in Rome with the classical background. The bad guys getaway boat is an elegant teak speedboat. Yep, it was the vibe that hooked me on this movie.
There is some suggestiveness in parts of the movie but everybody keeps their clothes on and of course gentlemen watch their language.
I remember vaguely the original Man from U.N.C.L.E from the 1960’s. I liked it fine I think but it was not on my “A” list shows. Shows you like “Combat”, “Twelve O’Clock High,” “The Flintstones”, “Johnny Quest” and others. The Man from Uncle was on my B list.
Anyways I highly recommend this movie! Check out The Man from U.N.C.L.E web site. Lots of good stuff there. Movie web sites are the little secret of movies. Nobody I talk to goes to them. I love them and almost all movies have their own sites. Check out the IMDB site for the movie also. They have encyclopedic information on the cast, guidelines for parents, lists of goofs, and links to trailers and lots of photos.
