Actually, Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie should be best friends. Last but not least, the (early) works of the two filmmakers can be compared in a similar corner Cool dialogues, strange characters and a story that is not always told in a linear way, which comes to life thanks to a casual production – there are many parallels here.
However, at least Tarantino is not completely enthusiastic about every Guy Ritchie film, as today’s TV tip shows. The code name UNCLE, which was launched in 2015, was largely well received by critics and audiences. The Pulp Fiction director has the entertaining agent action with Henry Cavill, however, was not liked.
TV tip: Codename UNCLE is an entertaining spy film, even if Tarantino doesn’t like it
Codename UNCLE is based on the Solo series for ONCEL (1964-1968) and takes you to the 1960s, where the Cold War dominated the worldThe US agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) is given the task of smuggling the mysterious Gaby (Alicia Vikander) to the West. But then the KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) shows up and messes everything up.
You can watch the trailer for Codename UNCLE here:
Codename UNCLE – Trailer (German) HD
Some time ago Tarantino sat down with writer Bret Easton Ellis (American Psych) and talked about, among other things, Codename UNCLE. Thanks to the Internet Archive, the entire exchange can be read.
Tarantino said about Guy Ritchie’s film at the time:
The first half was really fun and great, but the whole second half I was like, ‘Oh wait, we should care about the bomb? What the hell is going on here? I should pay attention to the stupid story?‘
He was particularly harsh in his criticism of Alicia Vikander:
Henry Cavill was fantastic, though I didn’t like the woman at all.
Tarantino’s taste in films is not perfect either. So don’t let the master director’s words put you off. Codename UNCLE is definitely worth a look and delivers two extremely entertaining hours with plenty of agent action.
When is Codename UNCLE on TV?
Codename UNCLE airs tonight on 22 May 2024 at 20:15 on Kabel Eins. With advertising, the broadcast lasts until 10:35 p.m. The repeat follows a few hours later at 1:30 a.m. If you would prefer to stream Codename UNCLE, you can currently do so with a subscription to Netflix.