Does the movie hold up as well as the TV series or were there too many changes to Napoleon and Illya's characterizations that ruin it?
Should it be considered a prequel or an Alternate Continuity to the original series? There's room to suggest both.
Complete Monster: Rudi von Trüsch, known almost entirely as Uncle Rudi, is the uncle of Gaby and secretly an unrepentant Nazi in league with the Vinciguerra crime family. Once a bullied little boy who concluded from his torment that the masters of life were pain and fear, Uncle Rudi put his skills to use in the second World War, using the carnage to torture as many people to death as he could in as many possible ways to document them in his scrapbook. So prolific his name has been mistaken for three different artists, Trudi has no care as to what his employers want, torturing Napoleon Solo purely for the fun of it when he has him in his clutches and cowardly selling off everyone tangentially connected to him when he's captured.
Crosses the Line Twice: A man getting electrocuted to death while two men discuss what to do with him in the foreground should not be so comical, but when that man is both a sadistic torturer and a craven coward, well...
Cult Classic: While the film has been unsuccessful at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics (almost bordering on Critical Dissonance), it has gained a very enthusiastic fanbase on the net, especially on places like tumblr. The Bromance between Solo and Illya, and the dawning romance between Illya and Gaby, have sparked a flood of Fan Fiction.
Harsher in Hindsight: Illya's explosive temper and creepy stoicism, especially with Gaby, are much harder to look at after Armie Hammer's accusations of sexual abuse and cannibal fantasies ruined his career.
Additionally, the well-received chemistry between Cavill and Hammer in this film has led to many people hoping that Hammer gets cast in the DC Extended Universe in some form note The most popular choice being Green Lantern simply to see the two interact again.
As the Trivia section notes, Cavill previously tried out for the part of Ian Fleming's other famous superspy.
Ho Yay: The film comes complete with a top/bottom joke and Napoleon saying things like 'we act like this never happened'. The chemistry between the two male leads has been remarked on by many reviewers, and Armie Hammer himself has repeatedlycommented that the two are 'in love'. The boat chase scene in particular is filled with this if you know Italian, since the background music is a love song. Really, considering that the original series spawned one of the earliest slash-writing communities, this is to be expected.
Napoleon Solo is a charismatic, lovable Gentleman Thief turned the best agent in the American government, who works off his criminal debt by taking down threats far worse than himself, and all while lining his own pockets and having fun the whole way. Introduced outsmarting Russian superspy Illya Kuryakin using nothing but his surroundings and his own gadgets, Solo is afterwards begrudgingly teamed up with Kuryakin to take down the villainous Victoria Vinciguerra. Effortlessly seducing Victoria herself even amidst her suspicions and playfully trolling Kuryakin at every possible turn, Solo faces even drugging, capture, and torture at the hands of Nazis with wit and joviality. When Victoria seemingly escapes and has all but won, Solo uses his killing of her husband to bait the woman into stalling her escape in time for Solo's allies to kill her and end her scheme, after which Solo solidifies his budding friendship with Kuryakin by revealing he recovered the man's valued watch after it was lost.
Alexander Waverly is a British intelligence officer playing The Man Behind the Man to agent Gaby Teller, having her play the part of damsel-in-distress in order to get close to the Vinciguerras and Gaby's uncle Rudi. Alexander kicks back and relaxes for two-thirds of the movie as he has the KGB and the CIA compete and do the bulk of the legwork for him while he stays in the shadows, having Gaby feed him back information and then having her seemingly betray Solo and Kuryakin to the clutches of the enemy so she can infiltrate the Vinciguerras. Admitting he's played both Solo and Kurykain like fiddles when forced to come clean with nothing more than a calm smile, Waverly is so charismatic that he manages to convince both the KGB and the CIA into relinquishing to him their best agents, all so he can set up his own organization he promptly dubs "U.N.C.L.E."
Periphery Demographic: Though the film is well liked by fans of the Spy genre and action junkies, U.N.C.L.E. also has an enthusiastic female following, presumably for the Ho Yay between Solo and Illya.
The "America teaming up with Russia. That doesn't sound very friendly." phrase by Gaby Teller is repeated in almost every trailer, taking the humor out of it.
She doesn't even say the whole phrase together in the movie! It's like the way Sherlock Holmes never said in the stories "Elementary, my dear Watson." Gaby says "America teaming up with Russia" during the scene to pick out her clothes for the mission. She says "That doesn't sound very friendly." much earlier, during her first scene with Solo, in fact. And she's referring to something completely different.
Similarly, Waverly's "for a special agent, you're not having a very special day" line got used in almost every promo.
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