Review of Spy Game (2001) by Andrew N — 23 Sep 2008

I find it funny that CIA agents are always so inherently likable in movies despite the institution's horrendous track record of protecting capitalism at the expense of human rights, assassinating democratically elected leaders, money-laundering, etc.

etc. that said, this movie is pretty freakin great. we get to take a brisk tour of some of the U.S.'s finest imperialist escapades over the past 40 years and look at Brad Pitt's fine ass while we do it.

Redford is freakin' brilliant and actually brings a surprising level of excitement to his more or less desk jockey job. The dialogue is subtle and doesn't insult the audience's intelligence, and there's just a strong sense throughout that the actors are really the focus and not the action.

this is actually how I tend to prefer action movies... it's a lot more challenging to write good dialogue than to blow shit up on camera. I'm not saying that there aren't any explosions because that would just be silly in a movie with this title, but it's really the acting that makes it worth watching.

.. especially the way certain lines are delivered at just the right moment ("dinner out is go..."). anyway, yeah, I dug it. It was good.