Scott ... can’t figure out how to overcome the awkwardness of the flashback device and get any real dramatic momentum going.
Spy Game (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:129
Fresh:83
Rotten:46
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: The outcome of the kinetic Spy Game is never in doubt, but it is fun watching Robert Redford and Brad Pitt work.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some violence and brief sexuality
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Nov 21, 2001 Wide
Box Office: $62,326,785
Synopsis: Robert Redford stars as veteran CIA agent Nathan Muir in this thriller from Tony Scott (TOP GUN, ENEMY OF THE STATE). Set in 1991, Muir expects his last day before retirement to be an easy one.... Robert Redford stars as veteran CIA agent Nathan Muir in this thriller from Tony Scott (TOP GUN, ENEMY OF THE STATE). Set in 1991, Muir expects his last day before retirement to be an easy one. Instead, he finds that his protégé, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), is being held on espionage charges in a Chinese prison will be executed in 24 hours. A seasoned agent, Muir has played spy games for a long time and quickly realizes that the CIA may not be acting in Bishop's best interest. Even as an agency committee is grilling Muir, he is secretly working to secure his former charge's freedom. Action-packed flashbacks establish the relationship between the two men: their first meeting during the Vietnam War, Muir's recruitment of Bishop following the war, Bishop's training and early missions in Berlin, and an important operation in Beirut. Similarly, the flashbacks trace the evolution of Bishop from an eager, brand-new agent in 1975 to a disillusioned veteran in the mid-1980s who is at odds with his mentor, Muir. This last layer of conflict adds extra suspense to SPY GAME, as Muir must decide whether to help his old friend or take the easy way out. [More]
Starring: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane
Starring: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Larry Bryggman
Director: Tony Scott
Director: Tony Scott
Screenwriter: David Arata, Michael Frost Beckner
Producer: Douglas Wick, Marc Abraham
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for Spy Game
So well put together that its substantial gaps in plausibility don’t cause grievous harm.
Watching [Redford] so winningly wrap himself around an interesting role made me feel as if he'd never left his peak leading-man stature of more than a generation ago.
An energetic but immature espionage caper, one that hurtles forward with the inelegant enthusiasm of a kindergartner playing dress-up in his father's best suit.
Robert Redford gives perhaps the slyest performance of his career, projecting both the piss and vinegar of Butch Cassidy and the stoicism of the Sundance Kid.
If you dig on spy films, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't thoroughly enjoy this movie.
Even within the limits of its fictional spy 'game' sensibility, it is depressingly unthoughtful.
"Spy Game" might have worked better if it didn't try to straddle the line between war and peace like an inept double agent.
Scott films every scene, no matter how routine, as if he's covering the launch of a nuclear missile.
Spy Game is never boring and rarely predictable except in its broad, overall us-versus-them outline.
Director Tony Scott got the tone, atmosphere, and grime of the story right.
This is dazzling, first-rate Hollywood popcorn fluff. It thinks it's got more substance than it actually does, but Redford’s performance is like one big wink: he's in on the joke, too.
Make no mistake: This will never be mistaken as a CIA recruiting film.
With its cast of back-stabbing functionaries and desk jockeys, Spy Game makes the sport and hard work of espionage seem chillingly real.
A taut, timely and intelligent thriller with cloak-and-swaggering performances from Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.
If you can't find a copy of Condor, you can learn everything you probably need to know about espionage by pairing Spy Game with Spy Kids.
Scott, who's made numerous big-star action movies, brings some unexpected humor and elegance to this otherwise predictable film.
What Redford gets away with is putting over a convoluted and occasionally implausible story with his wit and charm.
A fairly decent effort with enough engaging spy-related developments and occasionally crackling dialogue to make it a fairly enjoyable entry in the genre.
Latest News for Spy Game
October 13, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Domino" Topples, "Elizabethtown" Disappoints
This week, the wide releases regale us with tales of beautiful bounty hunters ("Domino"), existential romance ("Elizabethtown"), and masses of deadly... More...
April 28, 2005:
Clive Owen to Headline "Children of Men"
"Sin City" do-gooder Clive Owen has recently signed up to star in Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men." Based on the novel by P.D. James, the story sounds like... More...
October 31, 2001:
With pyrotechnics for the men and two generations of hunks for the women, Spy Game could have universal appeal. ![]()
More...
August 20, 2001:
Spy Game reunites Pitt with both Redford, who directed him in 1992's A River Runs Through It, and director Scott. ![]()
More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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