Guy Ritchie’s loveletter to 60’s and 70’s espionage television shows is captured in a silly, but stylishly sensational remake, based on the original 1964 television show of the same name. ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E’ action spy thriller sprinkled with a refreshing dose of comedic subtelty starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as two agents representing their respective countries of America and the Soviet Union. Despite being at the height of the cold war in the 1960’s, the two men must team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the exploitation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo’s only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist (Alicia Vikander), who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe. This movie greatly surprised me with how funny it is. There were several times during the film where the dark witted humor won me over on this film over the few times it tries to take itself a little too seriously. The film could easily be lost during the timeframe of the second act, where things begin to unravel a little too quickly for the audience to fully conjure everything thrown at them. This makes ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E’ have great replay value for future showings, but the on-screen chemistry of the two male leads keeps this film afloat. When seeing the trailers for this film, i worried about Hammer in particularly being cast with a Russian Accent. I am happy to report that he hit the impression on target and never came off as anything but genuine. The rivalry between he and Cavill make for some charming moments among utter chaos going on in the background behind their arguments. Speaking of backgrounds, this film’s look and feel, complete with time traveling cinematography was brilliant. Ritchie has always been able to craft stylish looking films, but he went all out in this movie clearly, as a testament to his interest in the TV show. The scrolling transition scenes complete with key actions of the main characters really transports the film back to the golden age of TV, and it never feels like it’s doing it insultingly. The soundtrack and costume production were both some of the very best i have seen of the Summer season. It feels like the music never stops, with many scenes being soared to roaring levels of Russian music for that particular generation. Without understanding what the singers were saying, i could clearly feel the musical tones for scenes of war and passion. The film is just a lot of fun on all levels, and i hope it earns a place in cult status when the movie comes to DVD. Too many action films today take themselves too seriously and the movie often comes off feeling like something that it’s not. Fortunately, ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E’ hypnotized me under a sexy spell of shoot em up kind of style that never let go of my peaking interest.

7/10