Bridge of Spies (2015)

Great Film overall

Boring

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Movie Review: "Bridge of Spies" (2015)Three years after releasing Academy-Award-nominated "Lincoln" starring Daniel Day-Lewis as 16th President of the United States, comes this Berlin-Wall building time period og early 1960s Germany screenplay atmospherically-researched by Joel & Ethan Coen to the utmost attention of director Steven Spielberg, who had decided to make it a 135-Minute Polit-Drama, which no one hurts of just being clever motion picture entertainment.Leading actor Tom Hanks as capable U.S. constitution-defending Lawyer James B. Donovan, who travels to post-world-war-II Berlin, Germany in highly-visceral as moody remaining 35mm film cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and professional because accurate production design by Academy-Award-winner Adam Stockhausen, when "Bridge of Spies" already wastes his suspense feed in the first 30 minutes screening a remarkable sequence featuring supreme support actor Mark Rylance as the character Rudolf Abel, who exchanges tiny encrypted messages within only razor-sharpness' able to open split metallic coins for the precious "Intel" with regard to common park-bank placements."Bridge of Spies" directed by Steven Spielberg is no surprise, but highly-professional, enduring as a quality motion picture, nevertheless missing the moment of truth, at least emotionally with a title-given bridge-exchange of cold-war prisoners in the final thirty minutes to no suspense-consequence of just being there.FAZIT: Picture approved (breakable) Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

I always find Spielberg a hit-and-miss director; for every winning thriller like MUNICH there's a piece of tat like INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL to come along and reduce the director's stature in my eyes. Thankfully, BRIDGE OF SPIES is one of his mature films, which translates into talkiness which is never boring thanks to a very strong script that recalls great Cold War thrillers like THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. Tom Hanks is once again a likeable, quick-thinking everyman who this time around is tasked with defending a Russian spy in the courts. I remember despising Mark Rylance's WOLF HALL when I attempted watching it, but Rylance is at the top of his game here and extremely likeable as the self-effacing spy. The film's true story origins means it has the ring of authenticity throughout and Spielberg admirably avoids sentimentality, instead presenting complex characters working their way through complicated situations. The end result is a film which delights from beginning to end.

'Bridge of Spies' is an espionage thriller at its finest. It's set in the late 50s & early 60s and certainly looks the part - I always love seeing the old cars driving around New York, looking classy. Starts off like any classic spy film, but then Abel (Rylance) is caught. In comes Donovan (Hanks), an insurance lawyer who is asked to defend Abel, so he can receive due legal practice. The first 45min or so is a good courtroom drama and moves along fast enough, with Hanks giving a few great speeches and making some solid points about what's right and what's best.The movie really captures well the Cold War tension in America and what families would've gone through. It helps that this is the best film Spielberg has made in a few years and the best film Hanks has been in for a while. Once the movie turns into political chess, with an exchange of Abel for Powers (Stowell) in Berlin, the stakes are raised and there's plenty of great subterfuge.Hanks basically owns the film, with everyone having some good moments (especially Rylance, with his "would it help?"s), but he really plays a great everyman who stands up to both Germany, Russia & his own country (mostly portrayed by the CIA/Shepherd) for what is morally right and just, not just what is politically acceptable at the current time.

Spielberg's depiction of the Cold War is quite interesting because it allows of greater understanding as to the depth of the animosity between the United States and the Soviet Union at that time. However, I believe that the logistics of the exchange were oversimplified, and did not pose to be an accurate depiction of the heated arguments that must have been at play during that time. In addition, certain imagery was very effective in drawing comparative environments between the United States and the Soviet Union, such as the scene in Berlin when James Donovan is viewing the men that attempted to climb over the Berlin wall. This scene was compared to the end scene in which we were exposed to children in the United States climbing over a fence without the slightest nervousness of violence. Overall, this movie was a great docudrama that inspired to support the strength and conviction of the United States' pride in a free trial.