Review of Bridge of Spies (2015) by Spangle — 31 Oct 2015

Many will think Bridge of Spies is boring, but to me, it was anything but. It may have been slow, but still the pace never was an issue. Instead, we got to focus in on a fascinating story that features a fantastic performance from Tom Hanks at the very center of it.

A captivating story from the Cold War, Hanks plays a man who is keenly aware of the situation around him, but does not let it cloud his humanitarian beliefs, which is truly noble. He knocks this role out of the park and his talent is only matched by a terrific performance from Mark Rylance.

The direction from Steven Spielberg is also very good and he reminds us of just how talented he truly is. The Coen brothers script is also very good as expected and really shows how good of a writing team they are, though I obviously love when they're in the director's chair too.

However, what holds Bridge of Spies back is that though I find it truly captivating, it is a true story. As such, no matter how captivating, it is held back a bit by the constraints of that and its dedication to accuracy.

As such, it winds up not being quite as good of a film as it tries to cover so much pertinent information and, as such, winds up being a little longer than needed. That being said, Bridge of Spies is still a good film that is a great combo of great acting from Hanks and direction from Spielberg.