Review of Bridge of Spies (2015) by Carlos I — 05 Apr 2016

I like 'talkative' movies, I don't find them boring, when done well. This is one I'm not urging to revisit any time soon. This had all the ingredients to be better than good. 'Bridge of Spies' is a well crafted film, but even Spielberg's inferior films are good looking; he is a master of his craft.

I enjoyed the first half of this film, where the lawyer is called to defend the Russian spy. The scenes between Hanks and Rylance are easily my favorite from the whole movie. I wish this had been a courtroom drama throughout because I found all of that to be compelling.

But this is based on a true story, one I wasn't aware of, so in that regard I enjoyed learning about it. There's a spectacular plane crash that leads to the second half of this film... and after that, the film falls flat for me.

It wasn't gripping and I felt like the stakes weren't raised enough. There was no real sense of danger and the final scene was anticlimactic. All in all, I still think this was a good film, I just did not love it.