Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have been so good together so many
times that we just kind of accept it. We see the two of them on the marquee and
quality is what is expected, if not outright excellence. This goes double when
they're exploring great men of an earlier generation, men who honorably fought
on the frontlines of war like in Saving
Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, or men who
bravely traveled the final frontier in Apollo 13. In a year that's seen offbeat
twists on the spy genre, Bridge
of Spies is a welcome if
somewhat antiquated throwback about a good man who does the right thing because
it's the right thing to do.
The real life story concerns Brooklyn
lawyer James B. Donovan (Hanks), an upstanding family man (he comes to be known
as the "standing man" for a reason) who is drafted by his firm into
defending Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (the mesmerizing Mark Rylance), recently
captured with a mountain of evidence against him. Abel is the "most hated
man in the country" at a time when the Cold War was at its coldest, which
by extension makes Donovan a hated man, too. He soon discovers the U.S.
government only wants the appearance of due process, rather than a strong and
spirited defense for Abel, who doesn't seem concerned about the trial at all.
Not even Donovan's family wants him to defend Abel, and the death threats
they begin receiving don't help.
Bridge of Spies is essentially three separate films, and it’s the bookend
sections that hold the greatest resonance. The first chapter when Donovan is
defending Abel against the wishes of an entire country is Spielberg at his
populist best, making powerful social commentary against our current policies
in the post-Snowden era. The middle section is where things get muddled
and less thought-provoking. Donovan is convinced by a welcome (yet very
suspicious) government to also negotiate the release of a captured U-2 spy plane
pilot (Austin Stowell) from Soviet clutches. But Donovan, being the noble gent
that he is, uses the opportunity to also seek the release of a captured college
student on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. Turns out that Donovan's moral
turpitude can be a real pain in the butt when it comes to international
diplomacy.
But it's in the final section that Bridge of Spies evolves yet again, becoming the
tried-and-true spy thriller most expected it to be in the first place.
Donovan's mission in Europe is pure cloak-and-dagger stuff, or as he
dismissively calls it after being robbed in the Berlin streets, "spy
stuff". It's that gruff Irish attitude of Donovan's that make him more
than just another altruistic, Jimmy Stewart-esque hero. Penned by the Coen Brothers,
one can easily spot their comedic influence during Donovan's frequent
negotiations with stiff Soviet agents and paranoid CIA operative. Despite a
measured, deliberate pace, the film is never less than engrossing, thanks to
Spielberg's deft direction and Hanks' engaging performance. The latter is
arguably outmatched by Rylance as the enigmatic Abel, while Alan Alda and Amy
Ryan provide solid support.
While there's very little that's flashy
about Bridge of Spies, it
looks absolutely stunning from a technical perspective, credit to
DP Janusz Kaminski. Thomas Newman's score, on the other hand, is far too
overbearing for a film that is completely built on restraint. It's especially
noticeable in the final "bridge" scene, although to be fair we're talking
about a literal bridge of spies. Complexity and subtlety is not what Bridge of Spies is ever going for, but if you
leave the theater feeling incredibly patriotic then its job is done.
Rating: 3 out of 5
