Opening

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Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
88% The East May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31

Spy Game (2001)

tomatometer

66

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 131
Fresh: 86 | Rotten: 45

The outcome of the kinetic Spy Game is never in doubt, but it is fun watching Robert Redford and Brad Pitt work.

71

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 9

The outcome of the kinetic Spy Game is never in doubt, but it is fun watching Robert Redford and Brad Pitt work.

audience

70

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 107,796

My Rating

Movie Info

Brad Pitt is reunited as a co-star with his A River Runs Through It (1992) director Robert Redford for this espionage thriller from Tony Scott. On the verge of retirement from the Central Intelligence Agency, veteran spy Nathan Muir (Redford) learns that his one-time protégé Tom Bishop (Pitt) has gone rogue and been taken prisoner after attempting to smuggle a prisoner out of China. Although Muir and Bishop had once been close friends, sharing adventures from Vietnam to Berlin, bad blood and

Apr 16, 2002

$62.3M

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Cast

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All Critics (147) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (46) | DVD (35)

The performances are the biggest asset.

November 6, 2002 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I'll admit the main story is implausible, but the flashbacks were spectacular, and the cast is really good here.

December 3, 2001 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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It's clever and shows great control of craft, but it doesn't care, and so it's hard for us to care about.

November 30, 2001 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
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A yawn, and the two glamour boys (who, by the way, look awful) are both snoring.

November 28, 2001 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
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Happily, beneath the film's nostalgic veneer and tooth-rattling visual and aural effects lies a mature ambiguity that's unusual for a holiday blockbuster.

November 27, 2001 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
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Redford dazzles in his best role in decades.

November 27, 2001 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A smart thriller for grown-ups.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Two generations of Hollywood 'golden boys' team up in Tony Scott's Spy Game, a neatly plotted espionage thriller. [Blu-ray]

June 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Groucho Reviews

... afterwards I realized that I had been maneuvered into rooting for a dangerously reckless and presumptuous man.

December 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Looking Closer
Looking Closer

...takes the spy formula and dilutes it with wholly unnecessary plot twists and a flashback structure that's more confusing than anything else.

August 1, 2003 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

This is Brad Pitt, for crying out loud! Where can you send him undercover? In the CIA's Beverly Hills bureau?

June 2, 2003 Full Review | Comments (2)
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Redford is great - treat the rest on a don't-need-to-know basis.

April 16, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

It just isn't thrilling enough -- an impression compounded by Scott's tiresomely overenthusiastic and gimmicky camerawork.

November 10, 2002 Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK]
Daily Mail [UK]

Audience Reviews for Spy Game

A veteran CIA agent discovers that his protege is being sold out by the agency so he uses his last 24 hours on the job to try and rescue him from execution by the Chinese government. Very much an old school spy thriller, Spy Game's overly generic script means that it's pretty much entirely reliant on the partnership of Redford and Pitt to maintain your interest. Unfortunately they spend very little time on screen together as Redford spends virtually the entire film sat in a meeting shuffling paperwork while telling the largely irrelevant back story of how he met Brad who seems to be little more than a sharp shooting taxi driver. The result is a combination of a humdrum conspiracy thriller and Jackanory which comes across as the cinematic equivalent of an airport paperback. Inoffensive but dull.
April 29, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

Robert Redford - like a few other actors - does so few films nowadays that it's a treat to watch him act. While this film isn't particularly memorable, it's still worth a watch. Redford plays a retiring CIA agent who has just 24 hours to save his former protege (played by Brad Pitt) before he's executed for a failed espionage rescue mission in a Chinese prison. Played in mostly flashbacks as the kid comes up through Vietnam and the ranks of the CIA with Redford, the film has its share of excitement and drama, but the acting just seems rather phoned in at times. Directed by Tony Scott, who seems to enjoy being at the helm of these kinds of things.
May 15, 2008
middleeasternfilms
Derek Daniels

Super Reviewer

    1. Nathan Muir: Technology gets better everyday. That's fine. But most of the time all you need is a stick of gum, a pocket knife and a smile.
    – Submitted by Francis John V (8 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Spy game, jeu d'espions (FR)
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