Bridge Of Spies

This review may contain spoilers!

Steven Spielberg shows himself to be an old dog who has no new tricks when it comes to his direction. I would give Bridge of Spies a 6.5/10.

This is an incredible plot, it feels like two fantastic short films woven into one. The first aspect of the film analyses the ethics around who deserves a proper defense in the American justice system. Whereas the second part focussed upon the political tension between America, Russia and the rising problems within Berlin. The special effects in this film were quite minimal but there were some incredible moments such as the U2 being shot from the sky. The score of this film is what stands out, it's something that feels like it could become a timeless classic.

Tom Hanks, who played James B. Donovan, is an incredible lead in this film; his line delivery is phenomenal. Dakin Matthews, who played Judge Byers, really rallied against Hanks in this film; his gruff rebukes are some displays of really good acting. Scott Shepherd, who played Hoffman, built some great chemistry with Hanks; his constant conflicting performance to hanks was really entertaining to watch. Mikhail Gorevoy, who played Ivan Schischkin, was a great sinister role; I loved how he presented politics and the Soviet perspective of the film.

However the best performance came from Mark Rylance, who played Rudolf Abel. I haven't seen Rylance since he blew me away in The Gunman and he's done nothing but come back with a vengeance. You think this would have been a sinister role or the role of an antagonist but it isn't. What Rylance delivers is someone who is remarkably human, you laugh at his repeated quips and you have nothing but empathy for him. What really gets to the core of the film is the great chemistry between Rylance and Hanks, all of which culminates in Rylance's perfect delivery of the 'Standing Man' story.

This is a long film and you feel it, you want to be a lot more engaged than you are but when Hanks and Rylance aren't guiding the action this film falls relatively short. The cinematography felt out of date, this was certainly a nostalgic sense of film making that was only felt by Spielberg himself. The editing suffered in a similar way, cross fades and other old fashioned transitions meant this film became something out of the bargain bin.

Billy Magnussen, who played Doug Forrester, had no screen presence in this film; his stereotypical go getter role was another out of date aspect of the film. Amy Ryan, who played Mary Donovan, couldn't hold a candle to Hanks and had no chemistry with him; she didn't seem very necessary to the film. Jillian Lebling, who played Peggy Donovan, wasn't a great child actor; she was a tool to heighten the fear factor for the family subplot. Noah Schnapp, who played Roger Donovan, seemed like a very artificial role; he was written in an unconvincing way to filter in more exposition. Eve Hewson, who played Carol Donovan, didn't deliver a great performance; she was victim to a romance subplot that was completely thrown aside and never addressed after it had been introduced. Austin Stowell, who played Francis Gary Powers, was a character who needed more attention; there was nothing about this role that made you care about his fate. Jesse Plemons, who played Joe Murphy, had absolutely no screen presence; nor did he really share any chemistry with his co-star Stowell. Will Rogers, who played Frederic Pryor, was victim to the same issues as Stowell in that you didn't care about his character; furthermore Rogers was introduced far too late into the film to have any impact upon the audience. Sebastian Koch, who played Wolfgang Vogel, delivered the Berlin aspect of the plot and frankly it came off as too little too late; we were well into the film by now to care about any part of the politics in Berlin so that became another failed subplot.