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Bridge of Spies, 2015

Lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is asked to act as defense counsel to a man named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) who has been arrested as a Soviet spy. Donovan goes beyond just the rote defense of his client, and his impressive performance leads to a additional ask: he becomes the chief negotiator in trying to arrange a deal to trade Abel for a captured American pilot named Powers (Austin Stowell) and an American student (Will Rogers) who was arrested in East Berlin. All the while, Donovan's work takes a toll on his family.

This was a solid true-history film with engaging lead performances, though it somehow seemed to lack a compelling momentum.

In some ways, this movie feels like two different stories inside the same film. The first story is about a man defending someone who is supposed to only get a gesture of a real trial. The slow forging of respect between Donovan and Abel is nicely done, especially with the note that Donovan never asks Abel if he is guilty or not.

The second story is that of the tense prisoner exchange, as Donovan tries to triangulate between the German and Russian governments, everyone hypersensitive to whether they are perceived as coming out with the better deal. Donovan's "aw shucks" yet shrewd approach to these negotiations is entertaining as he comes up against much more tight-lipped representatives for the other countries.

With such a prestigious catalog of people working on this film--co-written by the Coen brothers, directed by Spielberg, etc--you expect it to look good and it does. The sets and costumes, especially the snow-covered streets of Germany, look great.

At the same time, the film seems to back off of one of its most interesting themes, namely the difficulty of doing the right thing even in difficult circumstances. When Donovan starts defending Abel, he quickly becomes a target of hatred, including people firing a gun into his home and nearly hitting his daughter. He's seen as being un-American and is criticized by the police who are meant to be protecting him. Donovan is living up to his duty as a lawyer and to the principles of democracy and due process, but a lot of people vilify him as if he is on Abel's side.

But at the end of the film, the hostage exchange complete, he becomes a hero. While this might honestly be true to life, it felt like a bit of a cop-out. Obviously we can respect him for following his values, but it feels overly convenient that he doesn't have to reckon with any difficulty. The films chooses to leave its last moments as Donovan watches children clambering over a fence, causing him to flash back to when he saw some young people gunned down trying to cross the Berlin wall.

While the film is willing to show some parallels between the two sides, it definitely hews toward the Soviets being cruel and the Americans being professional (if grudgingly so). Powers is tortured, Abel is merely questioned. Donovan's harassment is forgotten as strangers on the train now smile at him on their daily commute. It feels like it wraps up a little too neatly and loses some of the nicer nuances from the first half of the film.

A solid film, but not one I would imagine revisiting.

Of all movies, this is the one that made me hate Spielberg less. And Tom Hanks. I can't stomach either anymore and I don't know what even made me give this my time, but it was a very competent spy-thriller and I mean that as a compliment.

I'm not one who thinks that animated films are just for kids, but I felt like this was more suited for them. I liked the concept and the animation is great. I don't have anything negative to say at all, but I was never more than amused.

Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham were in the stage version of Frankie and Johnny...

God this was terrible.