If you have to watch one Netflix movie in July 2025, stream this one

Digital Trends

a day ago

Finding the right movie to watch on Netflix can be difficult even if you have some idea of what you want to watch. Netflix has an algorithm that's supposed to surface the right stuff for you, but the streamer is also heavily invested in promoting its own new stuff.
So, if you're looking for a great movie to watch on the streamer, we'd recommend starting with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. This largely forgotten 2015 spy movie is adapted from a '60s TV show of the same name. Here are three reasons you should check it out:
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It's a spy thriller in the old-fashioned sense
Although the stakes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. are very real, the movie itself has a distinct, light tone. The movie is set at the height of the Cold War and follows a CIA agent and a member of the KGB as they are forced to put aside their differences to track down a rogue actor who threatens to upset the fragile peace between their two countries.
For the most part, though, this is a movie that goes heavy on witty banter, colorful costumes, and set pieces that are a perfect mix of high stakes and fizzy fun. This is a great movie, but one that feels like the James Bond movies that were made in the 1960s, but with better effects.
It's anchored by hugely charismatic stars
A decade after its release, one of the reasons The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is so compelling is that it stars three potential movie stars who never quite got the break they deserved. Henry Cavill, Alicia Vikander, and Armie Hammer are all excellent in this movie, and Cavill essentially gets to show us what he would have been like as James Bond.
The results are as smirky and smarmy as you might expect, but laced with so much charisma that it's impossible not to be charmed. Vikander is just as good and is doing something she rarely got the chance to do: playing a character who is compelling largely because of her screen presence.
The movie is Guy Ritchie at his best
Few directors are more polarizing than Guy Ritchie, and understandably so. From movie to movie, he can go from making something entertaining to something utterly repugnant. With The Man from U.N.C.L.E., though, Ritchie leaned into all of his best instincts and made a movie that has all the fizz and fun of his best work, but without any of the baggage.
It definitely helps that he's aided by a competent script that is equal parts smart and tight, but Ritchie proves here that he can make down-the-middle action movies that are much better than passable.
You can watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Netflix.