The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Blu-ray Review
Rebeca Surber Swank
January 6th, 2016
Taking place in the early 1960’s THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. joins together two unlikely spies, one CIA the other KGB, with a mission that spans from East Berlin to Italy in pursuit of obtaining a formula for enriched uranium. The odd-couple spy team must figure out a way to get along and combine their respective styles and techniques in order to accomplish their mission.
When seeing the trailers for this film, I was excited. Spies! 1960’s style! A fun mission! Guy Ritchie as the director! Plus talented actors to round it all out! For some reason, I expected this film to be a campy Bond-Bourne-Mission Impossible-esque mash-up. It was none of those things, instead it was a letdown that felt like it should have, and could have been great.
As the film began, I was extremely excited about getting sucked into THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. But as the film progressed, I became bored. Sadly, once the movie ended it was immediately forgettable. What has happened to Guy Ritchie films? LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and SNATCH were highly entertaining and oozed cool. Fast forward to the second SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, a complete snooze-fest that was forgettable and lacked energy… THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. while a different era, location and premise, provides viewers the same lackluster movie going experience as HOLMES. Scenes felt self-important and did not add to the viewing experience. The ‘cool’ factor that I hope to see from Ritchie films is forced in U.N.C.L.E. and doesn’t seem genuine.
Perhaps if the scenes and pacing were tighter the movie would have progressed at a faster, more enjoyable clip? Maybe, if there was better chemistry between the characters, it would have been more entertaining? Or, if they would amp up the campy, it would have been more fun? Too many more guesses on what could have made this film more than a distant memory.
This is one of those films where I feel bad for the actors. They each put in an adequate performance and I cannot pinpoint what they could have done to make the film better. Even Alicia Vikander, who is a great actress and has had an amazing year of movies in 2015, seems out of place in this movie. The scene where she drinks an entire bottle of vodka and dances around could have been more real, or created more laughs, but instead, it made me believe I was watching someone acting drunk. Armie Hammer’s take on the Russian KGB was adequate and Henry Cavill made a decent fast-talking CIA agent. But combining decent, adequate and out of place, along with weird pacing and awkward story telling does not a great film make. The biggest positive I can say about this movie is that the costuming was quite fun and the only thing I remember from this picture.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: 2.40:1 – Sharp & clear. Just as one expects from Blu-rays.
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 – Good sound for all the boring content.
Spy Vision: Recreating 60’s Cool (8:34): This feature highlights the joys of creating a set and finding costumes fit for the 1960’s.
A Higher Class of Hero (7:13): A recap of the action sequences in the film and how they attempted to make them different from other action moments we’ve seen in movies before.
Métisse Motorcycles: Proper—and Very British (4:49): One of the more interesting features, if you are a motorcycle enthusiast and like old motorcycles, this is right up your alley.
The Guys from U.N.C.L.E (4:57): A look at Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.
A Man of Extraordinary Talents (3:16): Everyone gushes over Guy Ritchie.
