THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander
Writers: Guy Ritchie & Lionel Wigram
Director: Guy Ritchie

In the early 1960s, CIA Agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill, a Brit playing an American) is ordered by his boss Sanders (Jared Harris, a guy born in London with an Irish father, playing an American) teams up with rival KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer, an American playing a Russian) to investigate a criminal organisation which aims to proliferate nuclear weaponry. Key to their mission is Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander, a Swedish woman playing a German) whose father is believed to be helping the bad guys, possibly unwillingly, to develop their world-threatening technology. Head of this organisation is the statuesque, intelligent and beautiful Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki, an Australian woman born in Paris playing...well, I don't believe it was ever established, she doesn't appear to be playing an Australian though) and it will take more than Solo and Kuryakin's somewhat grudging co-operation to take her down.

Guy Ritchie's stylish swinging Sixties spy show was never going to out-Bond the 007 franchise but to be fair it doesn't really try to, instead relying on some pithy exchanges between the leads, fabulous locations and some great period detail. For the most part it's slick and enjoyable - save for a somewhat tasteless plot wrinkle involving World War II which temporary blows the froth off the proceedings - and, if you can forgive some of the wobbly accents, chances are you'll be swept along by this breezy caper and its seemingly inexhaustible supply of double entendres. You'd think that Finbarr Saunders was a script consultant.

Henry Cavill may not possess the effortless cool of Robert Vaughn from the U.N.C.L.E. TV series but he's still on pleasingly suave form here as an agent who's not exactly an angel but rides a wave of confidence and charisma that gets him out of most scrapes. Oh, and he's a master thief too, which helps quite a bit. Hammer has a more interesting role as Kuryakin, an educated, defensive, chess-playing guy with some serious rage issues and whose cover is to be Gaby's fiancé. As Gaby, Vikander gets the odd moment to shine but more often than not she's there to do little other than look absolutely stunning in the fashions of the era. Which she does, let's be honest, but I was expecting to her to kick as much butt as fellow Swede Rebecca Ferguson does in the latest Mission: Impossible outing.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen more of Elizabeth Debicki's character. Yes, she's striking to look at and we're often told how dangerous she is but unfortunately she's relegated to the sidelines for quiet long stretches of the movie whilst we're treated to more Solo/Kuryakin/Teller banter which, I'll admit, is amusing and entertaining but it would have been nice for our heroes to pits their wits against a better-defined nemesis. Still, with what she has to work with, Debicki is very, very good. Elsewhere, Hugh Grant is underused/overused (dependent on your tolerance of Hugh Grant) as Waverly - if you've seen the original TV series you'll know where he fits into the scheme of things - and there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-him two-word cameo from a certain Mr David Beckham.

With the ending setting things up for a sequel, the question is this: would a second U.N.C.L.E. outing be welcome? Well, all things considered, I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to avoid it. Cavill and Hammer spark off each other nicely and, free of all those origin story trappings which are necessarily elements of the set-up here, our heroes could get straight into saving the world from the next menace. As to the here and now, these men from U.N.C.L.E. provide enough agreeable agent action to satisfy most of us until a certain Mr Craig tips up in October.