The Man From UNCLE : the real thing !!

Sometimes it just doesn't seem to want to go your way. In the case of that earlier horror FANTASTIC 4, I was never a fan of the approach they decided upon and it turned out to be totally wrong. Resulting in a major box office bomb.  Here we have another one.

 Ilya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo

 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. was a popular television show in the 1960s, that followed and later spoofed the James Bond craze. The series ran for four years, the first season of which was in glorious black and white. The first two seasons are clearly the best as in later years the campy humor began to impact the storylines. The series is about two agents from U.N.C.L.E., an American counterpart to the British Secret Service, Napoleon Solo (played by Robert Vaughn) and Russian agent Ilya Kuryakin (played by British actor David McCallum), who on television got into quasi serious capers from one week to the next.  Many interesting guest stars appeared on the show.

 

A very young Kurt Russell appeared in the first season.

In THE STRIGAS AFFAIR we had an unusual coupling of two guest starring actors by the name of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, who not even a year later would star together in another brilliant show of the 1960s (STAR TREK, you dunderheads!!).

Napoleon Solo was the American equivalent of James Bond himself, a handsome, dapper agent for Uncle Sam, capably assisted by his Russian counterpart, Ilya Kuryakin. Their unusual pairing immediately struck a cord with audiences because there was an unmistakable chemistry there, between the two characters, as well as the two actors.

Serious attempts had been made to bring back the idea (in the 1980s there was a comeback television movie with Vaughn and McCallum, but it failed to start up enough interest for a new series) but not until the Guy Ritchie production started up, did a serious contender come forward.

Henry Cavill plays Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer plays Ilya Kuryakin in the new THE MAN FROM UNCLE. The problem with this film is it is a total reboot and both agents aren't even in the service of UNCLE until the very last scene. So the film would be a total misnomer. However, also the characterisations are totally incorrect. Check it out if you want but Solo is in this film only a con man who works for the USA Government because they have him in a vice. Similarly so for Kuryakin, who also suffers from anxieties and psychoses that are not at all used to benefit the story. The story tries to be one of sophistication and glib one liners, but all the one liners fall flat at their feet, because (and here is the clincher) THE ACTORS HAVE NO CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER.

"I'm sorry. I was sick when they taught us Chemistry." 

Alicia Vikander is a good actress but she doesn't really have much to work with in this film. Armie Hammer also looks like he is made for better stuff and while I would not discount Henry Cavill as a possible James Bond (maybe, when Daniel Craig steps down), he certainly does not shine in his role as Napoleon Solo. It seems also that the boss of the agents in the original series having been British,

Leo G. Carroll as Mr. Waverly in the series

 the filmmakers chose to follow that lead and cast the very British HUGH GRANT as Mr. Waverly in the film ! Oh Dear!!! Oh, Dear !!! Oh my Grandma's Whiskers !!!!

"No, my grandmother did not have whiskers." Hugh Grant says.

 Sophistication is no good if the main characters do not have any chemistry together. Besides, it remains to be seen what this production nominates as sophistication if  all that happens in the film seems to go so incredibly easy for our heroes.  And the use of multiple screens for things happening with a much quicker explanation, well, I'm sorry, but it does not work for me!
Finally, I have to also say this: the 1960s television show has a music theme by composer Jerry Goldsmith that is still popular today. Mr. Goldsmith also scored a few episodes while other composers also did their bit with similarly popular 1960s pop-jazzy music. All this new film has is an awful score by a Daniel Pemberton, which gets hampered by a lot of songs that are used to give the whole thing an exotic flavor. This at the same time destroys any sense of musical identity for a film that would sorely need it. Never you mind though. The film has already gone belly up.

"If you aim for the Russian guy, I'll take the American in the suit!"

So do not accept any substitutes and yes, do go back to this wonderful show of the 1960s. It is still possible to see it on television and the whole series has also been released in one very nice DVD set.

Whoever said that when it is old, it can not be of interest anymore??? Well, they were wrong!!!
There is only ONE  THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and that is this great television show of the past.

JAMES BOND 007 : SPECTRE (2015)

SPECTRE

Whenever a new James Bond film comes out, it is always a pleasant surprise to be thrilled by the various elements that make up such an iconic film series. SPECTRE is the fourth James Bond film starring Daniel Craig and it might also very well be the last one, even though Mr. Craig is still contracted for one more.
SPECTRE is as thrilling as the last one and perhaps even more than before it represents a step back to the Bond  we all knew before Daniel Craig took over the role. In SPECTRE, Bond has more of a sense of humor than we have seen before, he is equipped with gadgets and once more has a secial Aston Martin with the works. And he gets the ladies.

Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig in Rome

SPECTRE may be too ambitious with its length. With 148 minutes, SPECTRE is the longest James Bond film on record and while the film doesn't get boring, maybe the film could have stood a little tightening up here and there still. For me, it seemed a little like the length of the film seemed only to accentuate the formulaic quality of the story. You go from a quiet moment to a dramatic highlight, to a point of relief where after follows a new trajectory to another dramatic highlight and so on. But then, this is a James Bond film and not an Austin Powers movie.
For myself I also particularly enjoyed the struggle that the new M is engaged with, while Bond is still following orders from M's predecessor. Ralph Fiennes as the new M is excellent and works very well with Naomie Harris as Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw as Q. And the McGuffin of the story, vague as it is, would bring Bond even closer to his arch enemy, formerly known as Franz Oberhauser, but of course, he has started calling himself Ernst Stavro Blofeld now and ends up sporting a scar that refers to the look of Donald Pleasence as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967).

To be Blofeld or not to be Blofeld, that's the question!

I had some reservations about Thomas Newman's music for SKYFALL. Not that it was bad but it is practically not to be listened to on the soundtrack CD, which for a film music lover like myself is a sincere disappointment. I was pleasantly surprised this time by Newman's music because he manages to imbue his themes with an intensity that is dramatically quite satisfying in the film. On CD SPECTRE still doesn't match the grandeur of a John Barry score, but it is better than SKYFALL and intermittently also referencing the classic James Bond theme. Thanks very much, Mr. Newman. I'm afraid that I must say however that Sam Smith's Writing on the Wall doesn't do it for me. Sorry.

A trailer made for Heineken, a Sponsor of the Film 

A very personally satisfying background is now also being brought to a close for our hero, Mr. James Bond. It is almost as if these four Bond films for Daniel Craig have acted as a personal treatment for the trauma of his youth, losing his parents in a climbing accident, having been raised by someone else in their stead. It is the realization that he does have a choice at the end of this film which would validate an ending here, even if only for Daniel Craig as Bond, now driving away with the girl in the sunset. (I just hope that his girl friend doesn't get killed, prompting Bond to go on another killing spree in the next film. That's been done before. Daniel Craig by the way has aged a lot as well by now and maybe this would be his best cue to step down.)

Léa Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci 

Slightly disappointing was that Monica Bellucci is only seen so shortly in the film and also, Mr. Hinx, played by Dave Bautista, also is gone too soon. For that matter, by the way, even though Christoph Waltz does a good job of portraying the arch enemy of our Hero, he lacks a certain something in the menacing department. Maybe he just seems a bit too friendly.

Not Austin Powers 3

SPECTRE has in the meantime gone from the cinema screens but is now readily available on DVD and Blu Ray. At this particular point it is also going to be interesting to see where the films will go next as it is unclear at this point whether Daniel Craig will want to do one more or not. If not, other actors are foaming at the mouth to take the role.I loved Daniel Craig as Bond and if SPECTRE will be his last one, it was a good one ! But we'll just have to wait and see.

Final note: Sam Smith has been awarded the Oscar for Best Song, Writing is On The Wall. I am not in agreement that this is a good song but then, who am I? When Sam Smith sang the song live for the Oscars, it was also clear he could not match the vocal quality from the film song as his live performance was definitely off key. Not a fine note to end this review on but nevertheless congratulations to Sam Smith.