5 good reasons to see or see again Very Special Agents – Code U.N.C.L.E

Included in the Netflix catalog since December 2020, Very Special Agents – Code U.N.C.L.E is an effective and sparkling prequel to the cult series of the 1960s. The perfect film to change ideas and to wait before the release of OSS 117: Red Alert in Black Africa scheduled for April. Here are 5 reasons to add it to your list.

1. Admiring Guy Ritchie's twist

We know Guy Ritchie's propensity to play with the codes of genre cinema. His trendy and lit thrillers Snatch, Arnaque, Crime et Botanique and RockNRolla displayed a wacky, caricatural and boosted cinema. Returning to the ranks for two well-made Sherlock Holmes, he reconnects with his old loves in a spy film between homage and caricature, adapted from a famous TV series of the 60s. Buddy movie in the form of a fake blockbuster, Agents very specials – Code U.N.C.L.E displays an old-fashioned and casual charm as we like them.

2. Treat yourself to a dose of nostalgia

At the end of the 60s, well-groomed handsome kids and short-dressed girls were legion in television series. And Very Special Agents, with an American crooner-like Robert Vaughn and a very British-looking Russian David McCallum, fit the mold perfectly. For four seasons, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin saved the planet for the U.N.C.L.E (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) even as the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a confrontation by proxy. Warner has been squinting on the project for about fifteen years without ever materializing it, notably passing into the arms of Soderberg before landing at Guy Ritchie.

3. Let yourself be carried away by the complicity of a duo of wacky agents

The British filmmaker will have a field day paying tribute to the original work, with great reinforcements of references and tasty pastiches . Articulated throughout around its explosive trio, the film chugs along to the rhythm of the jeers between the two rivals who are constantly squabbling over who has the biggest gadget and the best right hook. In this testosterone duo, the intrepid Gaby comes to restore a little balance and tie a rather cute impossible love intrigue, which knows how to be forgotten in favor of the action. Because the heart of the matter is there: how this improbable alliance will succeed in saving the world from a nuclear threat?

4. Moving forward without downtime, to the rhythm of a staging full of punch

Ritchie conducts his film at full speed between treasure hunts and role-playing games, even leaving room for some unexpected twists. If he put a little water in his wine on the production side under LSD, he still offers us a small anthology of film angles and editing effects that give pride of place to outdated aesthetics. Accelerated editing, new angles (panoramic opening of the safe), micro flashbacks, "split screen" (divided screen), the director is busy emphasizing the outdated side while tinting his film with a very contemporary action not without a few tributes: to James Bond, especially when we see the two agents protecting themselves from bullets with one arm; and an explosive trailer.

Ritchie therefore plays the retro score to the fullest with a photograph in faded colors and a “has-been” look that can sometimes be irritating. An aesthetic that he nevertheless assumes to the end, sublimating multicolored pop costumes, magnificent natural settings and dolled up actors.

5. Succumb to the charm of a starless but devilishly effective cast

Actors who, if they are not part of the most "bankable" skewer in Hollywood, have the merit of wearing the film on their shoulders. Napoleon's phlegm sticks like a glove to superman Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Man of Steel) and Kuryakin's self-control, a little less sexy and complex than the original, is perfectly interpreted by Armie Hammer, notably crossed in The Lone Ranger and Call Me By Your Name. Between the two handsome kids, the very popular Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) adds just the right amount of candor and femininity to the trio to make things run like clockwork.