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Critics Consensus: Bridge of Spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War espionage thriller formula, thanks to reliably outstanding work from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Critic Consensus: Bridge of Spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War espionage thriller formula, thanks to reliably outstanding work from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
All Critics (287) | Top Critics (52) | Fresh (262) | Rotten (25) | DVD (2)
Director Steven Spielberg gives audiences a meticulously composed espionage thriller, which establishes a tense atmosphere from the start and keeps the viewer engaged throughout. [Full review in Japanese]
Bridge of Spies is a heart-on-its-sleeve affirmation of American values -- not in the loaded contemporary sense of the term, but in the way the country was founded on values we have to work and fight to abide by.
Authentic re-creations of the period, including duck-and-cover clips about a nuclear holocaust that frightened young students, serve as a reminder of a time, not unlike our own, when the threat of terror kept a steady and disturbing beat.
Spielberg and Charman frame Donovan as a thin bulwark against the American government's attempts to work around its own supposed ideals at the height of the Cold War.
Bridge of Spies connects Cold War paranoia to today's terror. That's a bridge worth building.
When all the international parties finally meet up at the shadowy titular bridge, we get to witness humanity - and classic filmmaking - at its finest.
Bridge Of Spies is a refreshingly old fashioned and adult-skewing Cold War thriller in an age where that type of film is so rare as to be novel.
Steady, measured and assured historical Cold War drama.
A film that is not just nostalgic because of the material, but serves as a throwback for one of the great directors and actors of our time.
A muted, steady spy story, Spies feels classic in both form and content, a throwback to a previous era in its style and storytelling.
BRIDGE OF SPES is perfectly adequate for its' intentions.
The story is strong and uplifting, the performances from Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance are top notch, and it once again reminds us that Steven Spielberg is still the master.
Spielberg's drama about the exchange of prisoners during the early days of East germany behind the Berlin wall is no nail-biter but thoroughly entertaining. Tom Hanks is the obvious choice for the honorable lawyer negotiating the deal, but you can't fault him for being good at what he does. Rylance certainly deserved the Oscar for his supporting role as the imprisoned russian spy. The film mostly relies on its cold war atmosphere, the actors and their lines, but that works because there actually haven't really been a lot of films about this chapter in recent history yet.
Super Reviewer
An American lawyer goes to Cold War era Berlin to negotiate a hostage exchange. Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, who surprisingly won Best Supporting Actor, lead this cast in a decently tense Cold War thriller. While it's true that the relationship between Donovan and Abel is underdeveloped, there's enough in this film to make their connection believable. And the plot moves slowly but surely. Spielberg, however, has no restraint in his message. The film is about American exceptionalism and the primacy of American Values (never mind the fact that several other countries share similar values). Yes, there are token "Bad Americans," but seen especially in a pair of scenes in which Germans attempting to climb a wall are killed and Americans attempting to climb a wall are safe (and not shot by police), the film pounds us over the head with just how wonderful we are. Without getting into a disagreement about the validity of Spielberg's point, we can simply say that the film lacks subtlety. Overall, there's a decent film here even if it's heavy-handed in parts.
Steven Spielberg. Tom Hanks. Period piece. Sound familiar? I mean, it definitely is, but this film from the dynamic duo proves to be more than meets the eye. Based around the true story of Brooklyn insurance lawyer James B. Donovan taking on the case of reputed spy Rudolf Abel, the story is set among Cold War tensions at their height, shortly after the Rosenberg trial. Tasked with helping Abel gain constitutional rights against a country at arms with the Soviets, it is a film filled to the brim with intelligent discourse and a penchant for reflective empathy. Read more at bluefairyblog.com
An intriguing behind-the-scenes negotiation during a heightened period of danger, Bridge of Spies relies upon its history to do the heavy lifting and it's plenty enough for a handsomely made, reverent, and engaging legal procedural that's also hard to muster great passion over. Tom Hanks is again a noble everyman, this time an insurance lawyer, James Donovan, called in to defend a mild-mannered Russian spy (Mark Rylance) captured during the Cold War. Things get even more complicated when spy pilot Francis Powers is shot down over Soviet airspace. The movie's civil liberties arguments are pretty clear and still applicable to our modern era, but the movie becomes exponentially more interesting once Powers is captured and Donovan travels to Eastern Berlin to negotiate a prisoner swap while trying to work three sides, the Americans, the Russians, and the Eastern Germans who were hungry for legitimacy. It's during these back-and-forth negotiations and posturing that the movie really hits its stride, pulling incredible facts together while forcing our protagonist to be the world's greatest poker player. It's the details of this story that makes it feel more fulfilling from spy techniques to the new life on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The acting is robust and Rylance (TV's Wolf Hall) makes a strong impression in a role that requires him to be cagey to a fault. Hanks is his usual determined, inspirational self, which plays all the right emotions in a way that still feels expected and a little boring. Bridge of Spies is a slighter Steven Spielberg affair, a good story well told with good actors but a movie missing essential elements to plant itself in your memory. It's a fine movie but sometimes fine is just not enough, and considering the talent involved in front of and behind the camera, I expect better. Nate's Grade: B
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