Operazione U.N.C.L.E.

From the soundtrack, to the settings, costumes, characters, and action, the man from UNCLE is an exciting and classy action movie. It takes the bond formula and recreates it through Guy Richie's unmistakable lens.

I honestly think Napoleon Solo (one of the main characters, an American Spy) was a perfect role for Henry Cavill, who knocked it out of the park... an Archer-esque, suave, witty charmer/womanizer. The same can be said of Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander's characters

This is a witty, lighthearted, and funny movie and seriously underrated. It is definitely a go-to relax and enjoy movie for me

1963, the height of the Cold War. In an unlikely alliance, a CIA agent, Napoleon Solo (played by Henry Cavill) and KGB agent, Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), band together to save the world from nuclear disaster. A top nuclear scientist, formerly employed by the US, has gone missing. It is suspected his brother has kidnapped him to work on a nuclear bomb. Solo and Kuryakin accompany the scientist's daughter, Gaby (Alicia Vikander), to Rome, as this is where her uncle is based. The idea is to covertly investigate his company and, hopefully, find the scientist and the bomb. Things aren't all plain sailing though. This is heightened by the fact that Solo and Kuryakin aren't sure they can trust each other and, to some extent, still regard each other as enemies.

An entertaining action-espionage caper. Decent plot, though a tad basic and formulaic. Some great, humorous banter, and that's what elevates the movie above the average spy or action movie.

Solid performances from Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in the lead roles. The stand out performance, however, is from Alicia Vikander who is delightful as Gaby.

The cast also includes Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Debicki, and neither of them disappoint.

Never watched the show, so can't compare the two, or whether or not this is a faithful adaptation of it or not, but I loved this film. It perfectly rides the fine line between straight 1960s spy movie throwback, and satire of one.

Villain is pure 1960s vamp/ femme fatale, Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer's chemistry alone makes this worth watching. Hammer's twitch as his anger reaches boiling point is a great bit of detail. Cavill really reminded me of Roger Moore's Bond, specifically from The Spy Who Loved Me. He has a suave, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing" attitude throughout.

Several scenes creatively have the action taking place in the background, while the focus is on the foreground. A perfect example, and maybe my favourite scene in the film, is Cavill sitting in a truck, basically picnicking, with a large sandwich and bottle of Chianti, while boat chase is playing out in front of him, reflected on the windscreen.

The film is rated PG13, but it doesn't look watered down to get that rating, ... Henchman's electrocution torture scene was both graphic and simultaneously funny- another case of the action playing out in the background, while Cavill and Hammer debate the fate while in the next room.

The plot is a bit of a mess, especially toward the end, but a great cast, sharp dialogue, and great attention to detail, and good action makes this a winner

This film is set in the early sixties and opens in East Berlin as CIA agent Napoleon Solo attempts to extract a German woman, Gaby Teller. Her father had worked for the Nazi missile programme before being taken to the United States; now he has gone missing and is presumed to be working for a group that will make atomic bombs for anybody who will pay them. A Soviet agent, Ilya Kuryakin, who is clearly highly skilled, tries to stop them but is ultimately unsuccessful. Shortly afterward, in West Berlin, the three of them are reunited and they are told that they will be working together in a joint US/USSR mission. Travelling to Rome, with Ilya posing as Gaby's fiancé and Napoleon posing as a thief they make contact with Gaby's uncle and attempt to find her father and infiltrate the criminal organisation.

As a child I enjoyed watched repeats of the original TV show so was a little unsure about watching this new version. I needn't have worried. As it tells a story of Napoleon and Ilya's first mission together no prior knowledge of the characters is needed. The early scenes to a fine job of introducing the key characters and their mission. The action gets started early and continues throughout; it is exciting without being gory... in fact the style reminded me of early Bond films but with the level of humour turned up. The humour was unforced and didn't get in the way of the story. Everything about the film adds to the sixties feel without it becoming a pastiche. The cast is solid with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer impressing as Napoleon and Ilya respectively and Alicia Vikander delighting as Gaby. Elizabeth Debicki also does a fine job as antagonist Victoria Vinciguerra. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of lighter '60s spy thrillers; it captures the feel and delivers laughs and excitement... along with a few good twists.

When I first saw the previews for Guy Ritche's latest film, "The Man from UNCLE" – a remake of the series of the same name – I decided to approach it fresh. So I avoided watching any of the adventures of Robert Vaughn's Napoleon Solo and David McCallum's Ilya Kuryakin.

I mean, to do otherwise just would not be fair, since my exposure to the original is limited to pop culture references. Why catch up to a show from decades ago only to rip apart the new one? Why give myself false nostalgia?

That said, I cannot tell you whether this is a faithful recreation of the original, a tasteful homage, or perhaps a complete bastardization.

However, I can say that, as a Guy Ritchie action-comedy, it works. The jabs at fictional representations of espionage are delivered with near perfect timing. Even the languishing takes meant to ridicule the tropes, stereotypes and clichés we have all come to see in every action spy thriller do not feel drawn out. All of Ritchie's trademarks are also there, from the diagetic sound that shifts to almost non-diagetic levels as the on screen action becomes a musical montage – a music video if you will – right down to the ubiquitous tongue in cheek, deadpan humour.

While I am sure the more eagle-eyed of viewers could play a game of "spot the anachronism" (that tube frame 4x4 in the previews, for instance), I would actually fault this movie as being too period. They seem to have cherry picked all the things people imagine as from the era. The result is that the clothes are just too chic, the set pieces too on the nose.

Then again, I guess that is the point: You are meant to fall in love with the aesthetics of that period as interpreted by Oliver Scholl's production design, and as captured by John Mathieson's cinematography. The fashion, the accessories... even the cars. Especially the cars! How could any depiction of the glamour of the sixties be complete without one Jaguar E Type? Also, watch out for the cameo of a $38 million Ferrari.

Even with the attention to detail "Mad Men" put into shattering any preconceived notions of the so-called swinging sixties, as well as CNN's "The Sixties" television documentary series' unflinching look at the social turmoil of those times, somehow I still wish I could have lived back then.

Or at least escape into the movie universe they have created.

Because in our world where terrorist groups are committing heinous acts of barbarity that would put any of UNCLE's supervillain enemies to shame, where spy thrillers like "Homeland" had to up the ante because reality is scarier than the fictional world they have created, where the James Bond 007 franchise lost its playfulness long ago and just keeps getting grittier and grittier, and where Donald Trump is the most popular US republican presidential aspirant, the Cold War and its Mutually Assured Destruction definitely seem worth pining for. I mean what is the mere threat of a few megatons of thermonuclear annihilation compared to the Donald?

The movie is cast satisfyingly well enough, with Armie Hammer's Ilya Kuryakin projecting a cold lethality that may have been a bit much. Luckily, this is a bickering buddy movie, where Henry Cavill's Napoleon Solo balances things out with borderline insufferable calm smoothness. For something with a bunch of Brits speaking in American accents, I am a bit surprised they toned down Gaby Teller's accent whenever the character speaks English – I'm sure the Swedish Alicia Vikander could lay an affectation of an East Berliner real thick.

In all, "The Man from UNCLE" is an enjoyable comedy and an escapist fare which just happens to be seemingly set in our past. I even rank it as a solid tale of espionage, with the end reminding me of Roger Moore as Bond, yelling to General Gogol, "That's détente comrade. I don't have it. You don't have it."