Spy Game (2001)
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Duration: 126 minuten
Country:
United States / Germany / Japan / France
Directed by: Tony Scott
Stars: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt and Catherine McCormack
IMDb score:
7,1 (178.381)
Releasedate: 18 November 2001
Spy Game plot
"It's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you."
CIA operative Nathan Muir is about to retire when he learns that his ward Tom Bishop has been arrested for espionage in China. Muir uses all his skills to free Bishop. As he embarks on a mission to free him, he thinks back to the time he trained the young rookie.
Actors and actresses
Nathan D. Muir
Tom Bishop
Elizabeth Hadley
Charles Harker
Troy Folger
Gladys Jennip
Dr. William Byars
Robert Aiken
Vincent Vy Ngo
CIA Director Cy Wilson
Reviews & comments
des1
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- 1752 messages
- 997 votes
No weak plot. Good movie, good staging, great story. Quite rare also in the sense that it (read the comment directly above) requires quite a bit from the viewer. In the making (to put it simply) of course, a film about loyalty, where you cannot or should not expect it in the work the gentlemen engage in (also hearing the commentary of Nathan Muir played by Redford). The more you see the film (also casually as I did yesterday), the more you notice smaller things too, like that Redford of the realistic, almost cynical intelligence expert in the 70s and 80s (towards today's time) has apparently turned into a desk officer at CIA HQ in Langley with his own tricks and laws that go against protocol. This film also shows (once again) what a great actor Redford is, that you could say that he transcends Brad Pitt. But that has more to do with the importance of the role and the minutes in the picture. Team CIA colleagues at the table were also on a roll. A real actor's movie. No fluff in the dialogues, or interesting stuff that you think is nice as spoken text but is essentially total bullshit.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
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- 11776 messages
- 6937 votes
Dry.
Least Tony Scott movie I've seen. He is certainly talented as a director, but as soon as he moves more towards the thriller, I find his films a bit less. As soon as he is allowed to direct action, he is on level, but Spy Game doesn't care much about action, resulting in a fairly dry and tough thriller film.
It also does not help if the actors and actresses know little to do with their characters. Redford is still doing well, but Pitt was a bit disappointing. I prefer to see him in his more arrogant roles. The more insecure and wilder roles are clearly less appealing to him. The other characters also know to have little input and are mainly boring background figures.
The film is not necessarily standard and its approach avoids enough annoying clichés, but that's where the compliments to the storyline stop. Boring editing and a boring course get in the way of the film, but the storytelling style isn't for me either. You would think that a film with Scott at the helm would run a little more smoothly, but nothing could be further from the truth. It all comes across as dry and uninteresting.
As soon as the film is allowed to unpack briefly on the action, it is at its best. However, these are few and far between in a playing time of 126 minutes. Of course that makes sense with a story like this, but Scott basically only knows how to lash out when some bullets flow. The rest is just not interestingly told which makes it anything but attractive to continue following the story.
No, this was not for me. Found it quite tiring to follow all this, and then it must also take another 2 hours. Long and dry. Fortunately, Scott's direction still manages to ensure strong camera work with nice and appropriate cinematography. He's really not bad as a director, but Scott is just in the wrong place with Spy Game.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Captain Pervert
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- 4782 messages
- 2132 votes
I liked this one much better in the revision than before (2004). Then I thought it was good according to my review here. But not great, like last night. After 17 years I knew almost nothing about it. But it is a skillfully crafted film in which important details are not rubbed into the viewer's face, but are sometimes mentioned in passing. This requires that you pay a little attention and that is okay once in a while.
The film was made in 2001 but is set in 1991. That makes it completely timeless.
It's mainly the Redford show. Pitt has a slightly smaller and less challenging role. The supporting characters are also excellent. Nice spy atmosphere, enjoy.
Even Tony Scott's directing, with his characteristic flashy whoosh-whoosh editing stuff and 'establishing shots' of half a second, is doable. The first five minutes you think: oh no, I can't handle this, but luckily it weakens as the film progresses.
4 stars
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