What aunt_zelda Thinks: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (movie)
That was fun!
Seriously, I heard bad reviews of this movie, I almost didn't go. I'm so glad I did, I loved seeing it on the big screen. It was FUN. Why the hell doesn't this movie have more fans?!?!?!?! Who marketed this!?!?!?!?
Like, like two things I didn't like that much.
I was loving the movie for about 80% of the time, enjoying myself entirely. I wasn't angry or pissed off or alienated once. I laughed, a lot. I was horrified by a creepy scene that was meant to be creepy. And I growled "oh fucking hell!" when Illya and Gaby were about to have their goodbye kiss and then didn't get it. I also cheered when Gaby and Illya started wrestling, because I was not expecting that at all and it was great.
Seriously this movie was great. Old school spying. Lovely period drama. (THE COSTUMES!!!!!!!) The music was FANTASTIC, oh wow the sound design, can I gush, I will gush about this, how they coupled it with editing and indicating characters' moods and shifts and just ... gaaaaaahhhh it was great!
Illya. My love. I was worried the movie would try to sell Napoleon as this like, rougeish charmer and hook him up with Gaby and I was not looking forward to that. Instead she fell for zero of his charms and he was established as an asshole from the start. (That first real meeting with Illya where Illya's like, "so you're a thief who fenced war antiques who's being blackmailed by the CIA, you must be so ashamed" and Napoleon is like "well your dad is a disgrace and your mommy slept around!" and Illya flips the table and I wanted him to kill Napoleon.) Instead Illya was the closest thing to a protagonist. At least, he was where my sympathies were for about 75% of the film, him and Gaby equally for about 90% of the film. I'm so used to the asshole American man being the Designated Protagonist, instead it was the Russian Communist. That is fucking incredible.
(Also can I just say, size difference? He was so HUGE and she was so TINY and she wrestled him to the ground oh my goddddddddddddd. *fans self*)
How about that torture scene. That was so creepy and so well handled. I really dug it, so often that's a throwaway character, like, some cackling guy with pliers who doesn't even get a name, and in this movie he was a character and we got his backstory and everything and saw his creepy smiling face as he tortured Napoleon. That was so ... auuuuugh, so nasty, but such a great choice in terms of cinematography.
Physical comedy! USED ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE! THAT IS SO RARE THESE DAYS!
"Funny Background Event" is one of my favorite tropes at it was used like three times in this film and I loved it every time.
The two main ladies didn't get naked ONCE. The fanserivce was always on their terms, not due to some creepy guy leering or anything. As for the one naked lady side character, ehhhh, it was annoying but I've come to expect such things from movies, I've certainly seen worse, and at least it implies that Napoleon is good at oral so I'll let it slide.
Speaking of oral, I was not expecting so many homoerotic jokes? Like the first time Illya and Napoleon meet, in a men's bathroom, the lead in to their introduction is a blowjob joke about swallowing. I was stunned. And they spend the rest of the movie being catty with each other it's beautiful. OT3, people, I can't help it, the writers certainly had fun with that idea.
The villain. She was lovely. Terrifying, gorgeous, and managed to be sexual and gorgeous without ever taking off her clothes on camera. (GEE, FUNNY HOW EASY THAT IS TO ACCOMPLISH IF YOU'RE NOT A HACK WRITER.)
Has poor Sylvester Groth been typecast as a creepy Nazi forever now? I hope he's paid well, that can't be nice.
As for things I didn't like ... the editing during some of the action scenes bugged me. The split screen stuff was fun at first, then they overused it, then they sped it up too fast and crowded the fame and my eyes didn't know where to look. It could have worked, but they overdid it, and some of the big action scenes are hard to follow as a result. And it seems like they were lazy and shot masters of the action, then chopped it up in editing to make it seem flashier, which is just not ok.
And the overall story and plot, now that I think on it, could have used some work. It was all a bit messy. The main trio saved it, in lesser hands it might have been a very meh movie, with the trio I had a grand old time and let some shoddier plot problems sneak past. I didn't care because I was having fun and I wanted to see what the team would do next.
A few times I was thinking of Leverage, my very favorite tv show ever. And as ya'll know, when I compare something favorably to Leverage, that's probaby a very good sign.
I left the theater wanting to swagger like a cool old school spy. That was a fun feeling.
[Sidenote, fun fact, years ago (6 years tomorrow, actually, since I left a comment, holy shit, August 31st 2009!) I was looking through the latest fanmixes on a certain Livejournal community, and found one for a show I'd never heard of, The Man From UNCLE, and downloaded it, because I was a teen with no money and free music was fun and it was nothing but spy songs. I still listen to it, all these years later. I pull songs from it for my new fanmixes.]
Anyhoodle I'm off to the kink meme. I went in expecting I'd ship the two men, and hopefully the OT3 if Gaby was written well (I feared she'd be written badly, female characters often are, I am so incredibly pleased that she was written well and such a fun character!) Instead I came out heavily shipping Gaby/Illya, just wanting Illya/Happiness to be honest, and maybe the OT3 if Napoleon is in the mood to behave himself. I mean, he did get the watch after all. He didn't have to do that. There's some good in him.
7/10 as a general movie, 8/10 if you like spy shenanigans movies, 10/10 for shipping purposes
Seriously, I heard bad reviews of this movie, I almost didn't go. I'm so glad I did, I loved seeing it on the big screen. It was FUN. Why the hell doesn't this movie have more fans?!?!?!?! Who marketed this!?!?!?!?
Like, like two things I didn't like that much.
I was loving the movie for about 80% of the time, enjoying myself entirely. I wasn't angry or pissed off or alienated once. I laughed, a lot. I was horrified by a creepy scene that was meant to be creepy. And I growled "oh fucking hell!" when Illya and Gaby were about to have their goodbye kiss and then didn't get it. I also cheered when Gaby and Illya started wrestling, because I was not expecting that at all and it was great.
Seriously this movie was great. Old school spying. Lovely period drama. (THE COSTUMES!!!!!!!) The music was FANTASTIC, oh wow the sound design, can I gush, I will gush about this, how they coupled it with editing and indicating characters' moods and shifts and just ... gaaaaaahhhh it was great!
Illya. My love. I was worried the movie would try to sell Napoleon as this like, rougeish charmer and hook him up with Gaby and I was not looking forward to that. Instead she fell for zero of his charms and he was established as an asshole from the start. (That first real meeting with Illya where Illya's like, "so you're a thief who fenced war antiques who's being blackmailed by the CIA, you must be so ashamed" and Napoleon is like "well your dad is a disgrace and your mommy slept around!" and Illya flips the table and I wanted him to kill Napoleon.) Instead Illya was the closest thing to a protagonist. At least, he was where my sympathies were for about 75% of the film, him and Gaby equally for about 90% of the film. I'm so used to the asshole American man being the Designated Protagonist, instead it was the Russian Communist. That is fucking incredible.
(Also can I just say, size difference? He was so HUGE and she was so TINY and she wrestled him to the ground oh my goddddddddddddd. *fans self*)
How about that torture scene. That was so creepy and so well handled. I really dug it, so often that's a throwaway character, like, some cackling guy with pliers who doesn't even get a name, and in this movie he was a character and we got his backstory and everything and saw his creepy smiling face as he tortured Napoleon. That was so ... auuuuugh, so nasty, but such a great choice in terms of cinematography.
Physical comedy! USED ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE! THAT IS SO RARE THESE DAYS!
"Funny Background Event" is one of my favorite tropes at it was used like three times in this film and I loved it every time.
The two main ladies didn't get naked ONCE. The fanserivce was always on their terms, not due to some creepy guy leering or anything. As for the one naked lady side character, ehhhh, it was annoying but I've come to expect such things from movies, I've certainly seen worse, and at least it implies that Napoleon is good at oral so I'll let it slide.
Speaking of oral, I was not expecting so many homoerotic jokes? Like the first time Illya and Napoleon meet, in a men's bathroom, the lead in to their introduction is a blowjob joke about swallowing. I was stunned. And they spend the rest of the movie being catty with each other it's beautiful. OT3, people, I can't help it, the writers certainly had fun with that idea.
The villain. She was lovely. Terrifying, gorgeous, and managed to be sexual and gorgeous without ever taking off her clothes on camera. (GEE, FUNNY HOW EASY THAT IS TO ACCOMPLISH IF YOU'RE NOT A HACK WRITER.)
Has poor Sylvester Groth been typecast as a creepy Nazi forever now? I hope he's paid well, that can't be nice.
As for things I didn't like ... the editing during some of the action scenes bugged me. The split screen stuff was fun at first, then they overused it, then they sped it up too fast and crowded the fame and my eyes didn't know where to look. It could have worked, but they overdid it, and some of the big action scenes are hard to follow as a result. And it seems like they were lazy and shot masters of the action, then chopped it up in editing to make it seem flashier, which is just not ok.
And the overall story and plot, now that I think on it, could have used some work. It was all a bit messy. The main trio saved it, in lesser hands it might have been a very meh movie, with the trio I had a grand old time and let some shoddier plot problems sneak past. I didn't care because I was having fun and I wanted to see what the team would do next.
A few times I was thinking of Leverage, my very favorite tv show ever. And as ya'll know, when I compare something favorably to Leverage, that's probaby a very good sign.
I left the theater wanting to swagger like a cool old school spy. That was a fun feeling.
[Sidenote, fun fact, years ago (6 years tomorrow, actually, since I left a comment, holy shit, August 31st 2009!) I was looking through the latest fanmixes on a certain Livejournal community, and found one for a show I'd never heard of, The Man From UNCLE, and downloaded it, because I was a teen with no money and free music was fun and it was nothing but spy songs. I still listen to it, all these years later. I pull songs from it for my new fanmixes.]
Anyhoodle I'm off to the kink meme. I went in expecting I'd ship the two men, and hopefully the OT3 if Gaby was written well (I feared she'd be written badly, female characters often are, I am so incredibly pleased that she was written well and such a fun character!) Instead I came out heavily shipping Gaby/Illya, just wanting Illya/Happiness to be honest, and maybe the OT3 if Napoleon is in the mood to behave himself. I mean, he did get the watch after all. He didn't have to do that. There's some good in him.
7/10 as a general movie, 8/10 if you like spy shenanigans movies, 10/10 for shipping purposes