The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a re-envisioning of the TV show from the 1960s. The movie takes place in the midst of the 1960s, when the Cold War was on the rise. I’ll state up front that I don’t really remember the TV show, other than the basic premise.

The movie starts off at Checkpoint Charlie, the border between the U.S. held portion of Berlin and the Portion of Berlin “managed” by the U.S.S.R. Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), a CIA agent, crosses over to East Berlin, to see out Gaby Teller(Alicia Vikander). She is the estranged daughter of an important German scientist, who has gone missing. It is said he has discovered a way to generate enhanced Uranium faster and simpler than has been done in the past. Since he’s gone missing, Solo attempts to recruit Gaby to find her father via an uncle, who might know where he’s gone to. Before he can convince her, he realizes that he’s been followed by a KGB agent, but Solo escapes with Gaby, and they are able to make it to West Berlin after a quick car chase with the agent.

Turns out that neither the Russians nor the Americans know who’s taken him, and the only lead is via this uncle, who is now working for a shipping company in Rome. It is discovered that the shipping company has suspected ties to some undesirable elements. Knowing this, the Russians team up with the Americans. And thus, a partnership is formed between Solo and the KGB agent who was chasing him through Berlin, aka Illya Kuryakin(Armie Hammer). The two have to work together to locate the missing scientist, and any Uranium that has been produced. Gaby and Illya pose as an engaged couple, going to meet the uncle, and this shepherds the story along, and this is where the film gets into gear.

I did not have a lot of hope for the quality of this movie, as there hasn’t been much promotion of the film. Guy Ritchie co-wrote the film, and also directed it, so expectations were high. This is, essentially a buddy cop movie, but they’re spies, instead. Cavill plays Solo as cool, and elegant (almost an American James Bond), while Hammer portrays Kuryakin as the brawler with an extremely short fuse. Both agents work alone, so having a partner is something neither wants. The antagonism and camaraderie towards each other initially seems a little forced, but, as you would expect, they do end up working well together, but in their own ways. I did not expect the level of witty banter, though, and helped convince me they weren’t intending to be too serious about it – considering the movie’s from Guy Ritchie, it makes a lot of sense. There are a few action scenes that are done well. Some of them are in the style they used to do in the 60s, where the screen is split into several panels, each with their own sequence (and often muted). That was a nice touch.

I had some minor quibbles with the movie – a computer disk from the 1960s would be huge and hard to conceal, but what they use as a stand-in is some sort of tape cartridge instead. Also, Vikander’s trying to play German, and while she’s Scandanavian, it doesn’t quite work. Her English was dialect-free, as if she were just reciting her lines without a trace of any accent. Other characters did the same, but, as I said, it’s not really a complaint.

I recommend the movie.

During the credits, they show dossiers of the main characters briefly. There is no post-credits sequence.