Stylish ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ among summer’s biggest surprises

Every sensible executive in Hollywood should have laughed Guy Ritchie out of the room.

"Let me get this straight," you can almost hear them giggling at the writer-director. "You want us to take a mostly forgotten 50-year-old TV show and turn it into a movie starring the Superman from the reboot no one cared about and the Lone Ranger from the movie everybody hated?"

Yet, somehow, the stylishly entertaining "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, has joined Donald Trump and Caitlyn Jenner among the summer's biggest surprises.

For you youngsters out there — and, in this case, "youngsters" refers to anyone younger than, say, 55 — "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." aired on NBC from 1964 to 1968 and followed the adventures of American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), who teamed up to save the world for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

The film version finds Solo (Cavill) and Kuryakin (Hammer) forced to cooperate, long before there was an U.N.C.L.E., to stop some nefarious Eurotrash from being able to mass produce atomic weapons.

There isn't much to the story, scripted by Ritchie and his "Sherlock Holmes" partner, Lionel Wigram. But it's told almost preposterously well.

It's 1963, and Hitler's favorite rocket scientist has gone missing. Fearing that his vast expertise could once again fall into the wrong hands, the CIA sends the dashing Solo to smuggle the scientist's estranged daughter, auto mechanic Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), out of East Berlin. Before he can, though, they're set upon by Kuryakin, who has similar orders from the KGB. Ultimately, the rival agencies agree to an uneasy alliance and send their top agents undercover, with Kuryakin and Gaby posing as a happily engaged couple vacationing in Rome, to locate her father through his brother, Rudi (Sylvester Groth).

The heart of "U.N.C.L.E." is the strained relationship between Solo and Kuryakin, as they bicker over everything from protocol to which fashion designer's threads Gaby should wear on assignment. Hammer's stiffness works for him as the no-nonsense Russian with rage issues. But despite his physical abilities — including a devastating ear slap that paralyzes its victims and a rear naked choke that McCallum surely never used — Kuryakin is little match for Cavill's cocky, swaggering Solo.

An art and antiquities thief before he was strong-armed into working for the CIA, Solo has a thing for the ladies and three-piece suits from Savile Row, seemingly in equal measure. But what truly sells him as a '60s-era spy is his dry monotone that falls somewhere between a narrator of old elementary school filmstrips and Lee Perry, who recited all those life lessons on Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)." Based solely on "Man of Steel," you'd have zero idea Cavill could be this much fun.

Vikander, who was remarkable as the android in "Ex Machina," isn't simply The Girl. Her Gaby is essential and every bit as interesting — not to mention nearly as capable — as the fellas. One minute, she's dancing about to Solomon Burke in pajamas and sunglasses like an East German Zooey Deschanel. The next, she's flinging Kuryakin about and destroying their hotel suite.

"U.N.C.L.E." suffers from a muddled plot. It's not head-bangingly, second-season-of-"True Detective" baffling, but it certainly could be clearer. And, much like "Mad Men," with which it shares an actor in Jared Harris as Solo's CIA handler, the intrigue finishes a distant second to its style. "U.N.C.L.E." is simply stunning to look at and listen to, the latter thanks to Daniel Pemberton's score that fluctuates between sounding like an Ennio Morricone cover band and drowning in so much jazz flute, you'd swear Ron Burgundy were behind it.

Cavill, Hammer and Vikander, though, are able to steer clear of most of the potential pitfalls, helping the action — including a delightfully balletic opening car chase — maintain a wonderful sense of humor without devolving into camp.

"U.N.C.L.E." isn't as revolutionary as this winter's fellow British spy romp "Kingsman: The Secret Service," nor as extravagant as last month's fellow '60s TV retread, the latest "Mission: Impossible."

As a summer blockbuster, it's a mod, modest success.

But when it comes to overcoming almost disastrously low expectations, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." is nearly as stunning, and staggeringly successful, as that crazy Kuryakin ear slap.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @life_onthecouch