MOVIE REVIEW - The Man From UNCLE

More classic TV shows coming to the big screen, and this week it's The Man From UNCLE.

It would appear that they may be trying to catch the same lightning from the same bottle as the Mission Impossible series has. But being honest, they did not.  And there is one basic reason why not. There is no star power here at all.

The Man From Uncle TV show from the 1960's was a very interesting concept that was very topical at the time.  The Cold War was going on between the United States and The Soviet Union.  There was insane distrust, and the world was seemingly on a course to nuclear war between the superpowers.  So a secret intelligence agency was formed with the "sort of" cooperation between Russia and the USA, called UNCLE. And there were two of the finest agents from each side working together to root out people worse than themselves to ensure only the Cold War  would continue, and not some wild card popping up threatening world "peace."

The agents were Napolean Solo from the USA and Illya Kuryakin, working together at a strange time in history. Great concept, but things are very different in the movie going public today. This movie is set in 1963, and even though it sets it up and explains it pretty well, you still have to have some Cold War knowledge to really get it. For the record, I liked this movie.  I thought it was pretty well done, and captured the TV show pretty darn well with it's overall presentation.  But there is no one to draw you in.  This stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as our agents, and sadly, they bring in no one.  And sadly again, neither does the premise on today's movie going public, thus the sad opening of 13 million.

But this is pretty good.   Yes, it is draggy in a few areas, and some of this story gets away from them a time or two, but this does have the Mission Impossible feel, and of course they all can track their roots back to James Bond movies.  This has a nice villain, a decent story and some real fun humor to ensure that this won't take itself too seriously. But does all this sound familiar?  Yes. They are simply late to the party. Very late. Been there, and done that.

The Man From UNCLE. For those who go to see it, it's a hit.  But there's not enough interest to save it.