Cold War thriller that manages to lose the plot

It is not until the climax of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a colorful, Cold War-era spy thriller, that its main failing becomes clear: The plot does not matter.

The characters do not care; the script does not care; and, the audience should not care either.

That does not make this odd adaptation of the 1960s NBC series bad. But it is a false promise that distracts from some of the other pleasures (and missteps) of the spectacle.