Spy Game

The movie is sleek and shiny as a new bullet, reflecting Scott's patented surplus of style.

There's something elegiac in Redford's spy who knows he's a dinosaur but still has a few moves left.

The movie asks tough, unflinching questions about America's responsibility to maintain world peace -- and the price we are willing to pay in order to accomplish that. Timely stuff, indeed.

Entertaining but farfetched, Spy Game might have looked less meretricious a few months back. But the real world has sabotaged its pretense of authenticity. Enjoy it for what it is, a fleet, handsome fantasy of globe-hopping blond demigods.

Fans of swooping helicopter shots, alleys filled with backlit geysers of steam, and jump-cut editing that makes MTV look like Ingmar Bergman will relish the intercontinental intrigue and huggermugger that is Spy Game.

Extremely well-shot espionage thriller that might have worked as an old-fashioned guy's-guy movie if the guys involved had any real, human personality and the espionage were actually thrilling.

A dead-chamber misfire, a hollowpoint dud.

A masterpiece. Redford's performance was outstanding. Redford showed that how strong the nerves can be of a person who is in espionage. Awesome realistic performance from Redford and Pitt supported him well.

This underrated spy thriller by Tony Scott (Top Gun, Man on Fire) follows retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) as he recalls his training of Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) while working against agency politics to release him from his Chinese captors. Not high on action but never lacking in tension thanks to Scott’s ever-tight direction. This is a movie about mind-games and sharp dialogue with both Redford and Pitt delivering knockout performances. Worth checking out if you are a fan of more realistic spy movies that dwell on the moral ambiguities involved with espionage.

The main problem with Spy Game is that the conclusion is about as implausible as the premise for Blade Runner, which is a little ironic since the directors of the two aforementioned films are, respectively, brothers Tony Scott and Ridley Scott. What's wrong with how Spy Game ends? Well, rather than engage in spoilers let's just say the film's conclusion would likely set off World War III, or something close to it, and most of the senior administrators of CIA would find themselves out of a job, and our protagonist, ably played by Robert Redford, would almost certainly find himself in prison for life and never mind how many skeletons he could produce out of deep dark closets. Another problem with Spy Game is that it suffers from the same syndrome afflicting so many spy flicks: there are no good guys, except maybe our protagonist. The Russians are bad, the Chinese are bad, and the Americans are all bad and backstabbing everybody in their own agency, most especially our protagonist. And the problem of course is that nobody's going to risk their life for an agency run by backstabbing SOBs who are just waiting for any excuse to rub out anyone who knows enough to defeat their schemes and reveal them as evil. Spy Games isn't a bad film, but it's severely limited by its ending.

On his retirement day, Nathan Muir, a veteran CIA agent, must respond to an informal inquiry about his former protégé Tom Bishop, who was captured on a mission on China. For the US, which is in the throes of delicate trade negotiations with that country, the situation could not have been more inconvenient. Abandoned by the agency because of political concerns, its Muir's job to try to help his colleague. This movie is not excellent but it was within what I expected. The pace is good, there is a good tension and a very nice suspense throughout the movie. There are also some action scenes, punctually. Nevertheless, the story told has flaws and problems with logic, which become increasingly evident as the film moves to its conclusion. The ending is truly unlikely. Robert Redford is the actor who best disentangled himself in this movie. He is a veteran and the character is tailored for him. Without ever losing his pose and composure, he has a very good collaboration with Brad Pitt. The dialogues are good and work well, especially between the two actors. What didn't go well was the movie's romantic subplot, which is bad considering the relevance that will be given to it. Simply, that part of the story was never credible. Good photography, good sets and costumes, a discreet soundtrack, good sound and visual effects, some good special effects, used with moderation. It's not the movie we're going to see because of its technicalities, despite meeting Hollywood's standards. Its a movie that is worth it for the interesting story it brings us and for the good work of the two main actors, very particularly Redford. But in fact there are better movies out there, and these will probably prove quite forgettable over time.

Although far from Tony Scott's best work, Spy Game makes for an entertaining movie. It gets too convoluted at times and also stretches it's timeline a bit too thin for any sustained emotional impact. On the plus side, seeing Robert Redford slinking his way around the CIA HQ, covertly giving his superiors the finger is a very amusing prospect indeed. Fun but inessential viewing.