What does it say when they set out to make a Cold War caper and they wind up casting a Brit (Henry Cavill) as the American, an American (Armie Hammer) as the Russian, and a Swede (Alicia Vikander) as the...well, not a Swede? Answer: not much, which is okay, since this smirky reheating of the '60s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is much less interested in what it says than in how it looks. And it looks great: the suits, the dresses, the cars, and oh yes, the actors, all in top, mid-century modern form. There has to be a story, of course, and so there has to be a bad guy, and it can't be the Americans or the Russians, so...the Nazis were big only, what, 20 years ago? Great! Except not so much, since the detour into concentration camp atrocities take what mostly feels like a spy vs. spy romp into dark 'n gritty(TM) territory. It's a weird misstep, like serving Bordeaux with sole. Ditto the explorations of our Russian spy's unhappy past. Otherwise, though, it's harmless good fun from the analog era of spycraft, directed with relative restraint by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes). (2015) — Matthew Lickona
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