Bridge of Spies
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 3.0
Or, Mr. Smith Goes to Post-War Germany. Brooklyn-based insurance lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is asked to defend Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) and, later on, facilitate the swapping of Abel for captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) in literally freezing East Berlin. Spielberg, it seems, is still in Full-On Americana Mode - carried over from Lincoln - as his story is liberally sprinkled with speeches/lecturing on morality and ethics and the American Way of Life; it's also a tad plodding and a bit too obvious. For its faults, however, the Hanks-Rylance 'friendship' comes across as genuine - Rylance's sniffling, unemotional painter/spy and Hanks' steadfast humanitarian are at opposite ends of the 'conflict' - and the opening sequence involving Abel being tracked down by the Feds showcases Spielberg's command of the medium. Think of it as a more approachable, less controversial Munich.
