The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Guy Ritchie
    Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander,
    Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris
Guy Ritchie's slick, lively reboot of the '60s television show goes back to the beginning, with thief-turned-CIA op Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB psychopath Ilya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) reluctantly teaming up to take on some affluent evildoers out to make a killing selling black market nukes to the highest bidder. It's nothing but style, really, but when style's done as smoothly as this, not much else matters. And it's a Guy Ritchie movie, so there's a flippant edge to the mayhem, like the scene where a Nazi war criminal finds himself strapped to his own malfunctioning electric chair. Cavill as Solo has Robert Vaughn's snaky charm without Vaughn's cold-eyed sneer, and Hammer brings a lethal unpredictability to Kuryakin. You never know when he's going to snap. You just know that when he does, it won't be good for somebody. Alicia Vikander, the eye-catching android in "Ex Machina" and an Oscar winner for "The Danish Girl", plays the bomb-builder's daughter, who's also East Germany's best auto mechanic, as well as somebody who can hold her own in a high-speed chase and a wrestling match with Kuryakin. By the time the end credits roll, they're all in place for a sequel, maybe a few of them, and for once, a sequel might actually be worth looking forward to, assuming Ritchie stays at the helm, and Hugh Grant returns as everybody's favorite Uncle.