Man From U.N.C.L.E. Limited Edition Review: 9th Anniversary Edition!

I haven’t seen The Man From U.N.C.L.E. since before it came out and it’s hard to believe that was nine years ago. That’s an odd amount of time for a new special edition but I’ll take it. It’s still a shame we never got more of these but at least we have this one.

The international film looks great whether you’ve got Blu-ray or 4K UHD capabilities. The caper takes Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Ilya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) from England to Italy with bright sunny locations on display, and a healthy nightlife full of action too.

A new commentary by journalists Bryan Reesman and Max Evry shows they did their research on the original show and the development of this movie. They have some rather scathing quotes from Quentin Tarantino. One-time director candidate Matthew Vaughn hoped he was Robert Vaughn’s long lost son, but he isn’t.

New interviews with screenwriter Lionel Wigram cover all the details of his collaborations with Guy Ritchie, and actor Luca Calvani probably doesn’t get highlighted like this very often. But, he’s busy with lots of businesses outside the industry as he discusses.

More new features on the legacy of the show and Ritchie’s career include experts providing history and analysis. As someone who really only knows this movie iteration, the legacy feature is infomrative like the commentary on why U.N.C.L.E. was a phenomenon. I’m more familiar with Ritchie but the analysis still provides some new ways to think about his British gangster movies and Hollywood blockbusters.

The bonus features from the Warner Bros. DVD and Blu-ray release are also included which I guess I’ve never seen either. The cast and Ritchie get to chime in here from the set while they’re hard at work making art.