This forces U.N.C.L.E., the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, to reactivate the two top agents of its Section II, Solo and Illya Kuryakin, both of whom had left its ranks 15 years before and are now pursuing other lines of civilian work—Kuryakin as a fashion designer whose resignation was acrimonious and precipitated by a professional disaster, Solo as a marketer of computers and independent businessman.
Equipped in their original fashion, Solo and Kuryakin search for the bomb and attempt to close down permanently what proves to be a splinter T.H.R.U.S.H.
group; the original organization had fragmented in 1968 after its failure in "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair" and has yet to regain the power to threaten worldwide law and order that it had possessed up to that time.
Producer and writer Michael Sloan, a longtime fan of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., based his script on a treatment he had written at age 19 during the series' original run.
[4] Writing in The New York Times, critic John J. O'Connor reported that the protagonists "manage to get through the familiar array of car chases and other assorted thrills with their old deadpan sophistication intact," and "considering the passage of time, the two men are in remarkably good shape, although it's a touch difficult to believe grown, beautiful women cooing constantly about Illya's blue eyes," concluding that "it's all cleverly concocted fantasy, as taxing as your average comic strip.
"[5] Critic Paul Mavis wrote in DVD Talk that the "iconic stars returned for this limp, unfocused comeback, but neither should have bothered, considering the end results," and "I was unfortunately reminded of the original series' wit and charm (as well as its wealth of serious/spoofy action) - elements all sadly lacking in this later lackluster affair," but noted that "when [Vaughn and McCallum] are on the screen together (and there are surprisingly few times that actually happens here - a big problem right there), it's obvious they're enjoying themselves, bouncing lines and knowing expressions off each other in a manner that approximates their previous duet act 15 years prior.