Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Boring

Absolutely brilliant

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The men from UNCLE are at it again.I am okay with the spy genre but I don't actually call myself a fan of spy movies/TV shows. I am indeed a fan of 1960s adventure shows (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, QM's The Invaders, etc) and this is why I am drawn to the UNCLE movies. I also like Robert Vaughn as Solo.The film is a very busy affair. The Karate Killers requires repeat viewings before it grows on you. I hated it the first couple of times I saw it but it grew on me the third time. I would not call it the best of the eight UNCLE movies but it is not he worst (the worst is One Of Our Spies Is Missing).He gets no credit, but 1966 Batman composer - Nelson Riddle - did some of the music in this film.

The Karate Killers is geared mostly for those baby boomers who watched the Man from UNCLE. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum were my heroes as a little girl when I watched the Man from UNCLE. Watching the movie now, I find it: nostalgic, a typical 60s spy movie, and a wee bit over dramatic. Of course, more than 40 years of movie watching has passed by. I am glad that the main characters and type of plot did not change and neither did the secret of the success of the Man from UNCLE still remains in the film. However, I miss the sophistication today's spy movies contain. The acting is decent and they interplay well. I am rating this movie against today's spy movies. It is still a decent movie. The movie is basically a matinée or a late night show. Bring popcorn for this one and enjoy a 60s spy movie.

This rarely seen TV movie is only shown on Turner Classic Movies when Joan Crawford is the star of the month, but she has a brief, but excellent appearance early on and then is murdered by "The Karate Killers." The plot revolves around the Men from U.N.C.L.E. on a continental adventure tracking down five daughters of a deceased scientist, who had a secret formula that turns seawater into gold, but they have to fight off bad guy Randolph and his "Karate Killers" who are after it. I guess you have to be from the generation of TV viewers who are familiar with the show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to really appreciate it, since it is action-packed, but at times corny and far-fetched.

When a leading scientist develops a formula for extracting gold from sea water he breaks his hides his formula and sends clues out to 4 of his 5 daughters. When he is killed by THRUSH, UNCLE agents Solo and Kuryakin join with the 5th daughter to retrieve the clues and find the formula before THRUSH can use the formula for their own evil ends.This is another in the series of UNCLE TV movies used for the European market but it is one of the first to be a serious miss in terms of the UNCLE series. While others played themselves with their tongues in their cheek this takes itself a little too seriously. The first sign of this is that it drops the UNCLE opening theme in favour of a very 1960's "groovy" number by Every Mother's Son and then it starts to load itself up with star cameos. In fact the whole thing lacks the gently mocking humour of the other outings and puts itself forward as a "proper" spy movie.This is a major failing as the action and story are not good enough to carry the film. The story is quite clever but the execution is poor. The story is basically in 5 bits - 4 sections dealing with each of the 4 daughters and the last being the final confrontation. The problem with this is that there is no real continuity and it feels piecemeal. Each chapter has a star - Terry Thomas, Telly Savalas, Joan Crawford, Herbert Lom - but this makes each section more about the cameos than about getting the formula. In fact in each section the formula usually easily falls into the hands of the 5th daughter by accident.Both Vaughn and McCallum are OK in their roles but it is obvious that they aren't having as much fun as before. All the cameos are poor because they don't really have any time to do anything interesting and instead just play stereotypes (English copper, Italian count etc). Lom is a terrible villain - all he does in each section is turn up and spark off a fight. When he does get more of a chance to show his character he is exactly like Dr Evil - if fact I thought that Lom was a few steps from being a totally spoof villain despite trying to be menacing and sinister.This lacks the sense of fun that other outings have had. It takes itself too seriously and immediately loses the one quality that made it good. Check out "the spy in the green hat" if you don't know what I mean - now that's an example of a tongue in cheek UNCLE movie with some stars as villains who give good performances.