Guy Ritchie: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

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

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. wasn't really a movie that ever needed to be made, so it makes sense that it was directed by Guy Richie during his Hollywood action movie period (currently at its height); the film comes across as a picture that doesn't really feel the need to justify its existence - a playful, light and inconsequential blockbuster that entertains for the most part, but could very easily be described as a sigh (or a yawn) in a very pretty dress. Henry Cavill stars in Robert Vaughn's old role of Napoleon Solo, an American CIA agent who finds himself inexplicability paired with a Russian agent named Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) to face a threat more dangerous than that of the cold war: an ultra-rich and ultra-evil criminal masterpiece - played by Elizabeth Debicki - is hatching a plan to mount a nuclear warhead from an island fortress, and so she must be stopped before it's too late. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a somewhat conflicted picture, because it offers up the sense that Ritchie is both trying his best and directing on autopilot at exactly the same time; whilst the movie offers up moments of occasional brilliance, these are interrupted with longer, more jarring moments of boredom and genericness. That said, The Man From U.N.C.L.E is a very stylish film, intermittently funny and also it stars Alicia Vikander, which is never a bad thing. But make no mistake: the film doesn't need to exist, and it doesn't really do a very good job of convincing you otherwise. Somehow, it's still a lot better than so many of Guy Ritchie's other very middling films - his third best.