'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.': EW preview

STARRING Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant

DIRECTED BY Guy Ritchie

RATED PG-13

RELEASE DATE August 14

Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) has long loved the early Bond movies and the 1960s films built around British spy Harry Palmer (Michael Caine). So he decided to make one in that spirit. In his reboot of the cult ’60s spy series, Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) plays Napoleon Solo, a CIA agent who reluctantly joins forces with a KGB spook, Illya Kuryakin (The Social Network’s Armie Hammer), during the height of the Cold War. They’re tasked with taking out a secret organization that has kidnapped the father of Gabriella Teller, an East German mechanic (Ex Machina’s Alicia Vikander).

Before Solo and Kuryakin buddy up, though, they’re hardcore enemies. In one extended chase sequence, Solo and Teller elude Kuryakin by zip-lining across the Berlin Wall. “What we’re trying to capture are iconic memories of the East-meets-West scenario,” Ritchie says. “Getting over the Wall is part of that world.” It was also easier said than done—both in real life and on screen…