Review of Bridge of Spies (2015) by Jim H — 22 Jul 2016
An American lawyer goes to Cold War era Berlin to negotiate a hostage exchange.
Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, who surprisingly won Best Supporting Actor, lead this cast in a decently tense Cold War thriller. While it's true that the relationship between Donovan and Abel is underdeveloped, there's enough in this film to make their connection believable. And the plot moves slowly but surely.
Spielberg, however, has no restraint in his message. The film is about American exceptionalism and the primacy of American Values (never mind the fact that several other countries share similar values). Yes, there are token "Bad Americans," but seen especially in a pair of scenes in which Germans attempting to climb a wall are killed and Americans attempting to climb a wall are safe (and not shot by police), the film pounds us over the head with just how wonderful we are. Without getting into a disagreement about the validity of Spielberg's point, we can simply say that the film lacks subtlety.
Overall, there's a decent film here even if it's heavy-handed in parts.
This review of Bridge of Spies (2015) was written by Jim H on 22 Jul 2016.
Bridge of Spies has generally received very positive reviews.
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