Customer Reviews

"Spy Game (Widescreen, Collector's Edition)"

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

Tony Scott's intricately plotted spy drama ironically places two of our blond matinee idols in jeopardy. A leathery-faced Robert Redford with the fresh blossom of youth in Brad Pitt. Both actors do well in their roles, with Redford coming out on top as his role demands a little more. Scott is good in keeping the pace quick even though there are several moments that you wonder if he can keep it up. Pitt plays a CIA operative captured on a botched mission and scheduled to be executed by the Chinese. Of course, the CIA will allow this because Pitt was on a rogue unauthorized mission, and they don't want to ruin their trade relationship with China. Redford does everything he can in a 24 hour period to ensure Pitt's safety.
The movie has a fine supporting cast including Marie-Jean Baptiste as Redford's secretary; Larry Bryggman (soap opera's AS THE WORLD TURNS); Catherine McCormack as Pitt's love interest, and Stephen Dillane as Harker, the self-assured, egotistical fellow agent.

David Hemmings and Charlotte Rampling have cameos.
All in all, entertaining, if a little hard to follow sometimes.

Wow, what's NOT to like in this tightly-directed, smart spy thriller? Certainly not Brad Pitt, who plays Viet Nam vet, ex-boyscout, erstwhile trained assassin who doesn't shy at doing wetwork while agonizing about the fate of his "assets" or contacts in the field. And a great performance from Robert Redford as Nathan Muir, who is about to retire as a CIA agent, but has plenty of game left in him on his last day at work.

The supporting cast is mostly unknowns who do a superb job as CIA flacks, and the plot is full of twists, turns and yet is logically laid out. The tension builds nicely at the beginning, and though this is a longish film (2 1/2 hours) it carries the tension well and never, ever drags.

I enjoyed this film for the fact that nothing really was telegraphed as to outcome, though we almost see the film in full circle from beginning to end. A fine effort by Pitt, Redford and most of all, Tony Scott.

Highly Recommended.

JLD

Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) is finally ready to retire. He has spent his life working for the CIA as a top-secret spy and has trained many of the young spies currently working for the CIA. He has never let any of them get to him - until Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt). Nathan and Tom parted on less than amicable terms, but when Nathan hears that Tom has been captured in China and is scheduled to be executed the next day for espionage, he knows he has to do something. Nathan manages to maneuver himself into the group investigating Tom's capture and Nathan discovers that Tom was not on a CIA mission when he was captured - he went rogue. While the committee pumps Nathan for information regarding Tom and their relationship, Nathan realizes that the CIA has no intention of claiming Tom and are planning on sacrificing him for a better relationship with China. Nathan strings the committee on as long as he can to try and decide what he can do to help Tom because he knows exactly why Tom was in China - and Nathan is the one who gave her to them...

Spy Game was a very suspenseful film that caught my attention from the first moment and didn't let go. I thought that Robert Redford's portrayal of Nathan Muir was riveting and quite interesting in terms of his CIA involvement. Brad Pitt was also very able in his role as Tom Bishop, a young spy struggling to maintain his distance from those people that he was spying on. The supporting cast was also very good and they really fit into the parts well. Director Tony Scott did a wonderful job in using flashbacks to show Nathan and Tom's relationship all the way from their beginnings in Vietnam to their falling out in the Near East. Many directors who use flashbacks just end up disrupting the film and you feel like they don't really fit, but every flashback was used to illustrate a character trait in both Nathan and Tom so that, by the end, you knew exactly what motivated both characters and why they were doing what they did. I also really liked the short time frame that the movie dealt with - one day! I was really on pins and needles by the end to see what, if anything, was going to happen. If you are looking for a good spy film, or just like Robert Redford or Brad Pitt, this is well worth your time to check out!

"Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impaired" cannot be turned off, making watching this movie so annoying I could not make it past the first 10 minutes. I did a search on Google and found this is a known problem!

Do NOT buy this DVD unless you always watch "Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impaired" turned on.

(I did not buy my copy at Amazon.com, so not sure if the one sold here has the same problem or not... mine was part of a two DVD set at Walmart).

Spy Game is a good movie that benefits greatly from its two stars, Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Nathan Muir(Redford) is a CIA operative about to retire when he is tipped off that is past protege, Tom Bishop, has been captured by the Chinese and is going to be executed in 24 hours. The heads of the CIA ask Muir about Bishop's past to see if there is anything suspicious about his actions. Much of the movie is in flashback as Muir explains how he met and trained Bishop from the Vietnam War to Cold War Berlin to the Middle East. At the same time, Muir must try to find a way to save his friend from certain death. If nothing else, this is a worthwhile spy movie. Plenty of twists and turns as Muir tries to outwit his bosses about Bishop. This is by no means a great movie, but is still a worthwhile spy/thriller movie. I recommend a watch.

Robert Redford is very good as soon to retire CIA operative, Nathan Muir. He is very believable in the role. Brad Pitt is equally as good as CIA agent, Tom Bishop. The relationship between the two men makes this movie go as Muir teaches Bishop the tools and tricks of the trade. Spy Game also stars Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Larry Bryggman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Matthew Marsh. The DVD offers countless extras including commentaries from producers and director Tony Scott, deleted scenes, behind the scenes featurettes, production notes, an interactive script, and widescreen presentation. For an enjoyable espionage thriller with good performances by Redford and Pitt, check out Spy Game!

I am not a great action movie fan - but I will watch almost anything associated with Robert Redford, whose "Three Days of the Condor" and "All the President's Men" are among my all-time favorites; as is "A River Runs Through It," his first collaboration with Brad Pitt. So, I figured, with these two in co-starring roles I couldn't really go wrong with "Spy Game"; and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Told from a 1991 perspective - two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the CIA changed from an agency run by operatives with field experience to one run by "suits" - "Spy Game" flashes back to the cold war, when American politics' overriding goal was to outmaneuver the Russian-controlled communist block; although Middle Eastern politics eventually did add more complexity. (Shot before, but released after September 11, 2001, as director Tony Scott and producers Douglas Wick and Marc Abraham note on the DVD's commentary tracks, the WTC attack had some effect on the editing process). The story begins with CIA operative Tom Bishop (Pitt)'s capture during an unauthorized rescue attempt in a Chinese prison, resulting in his former supervisor Nathan Muir (Redford)'s summons, on his last day in office, to a meeting of the agency's top brass, for an account of their operations between 1975 (their first meeting in Vietnam) and 1985 (their last operation in Beirut). However, already tipped off to Bishop's capture by an old confidant in the U.S. embassy in Hong Kong, as Muir gives his report his suspicion is quickly confirmed that his information won't be used to save Bishop but to construe a reason to let the Chinese execute him. So it is left to Muir, several thousand miles away, to come to his former protege's aid; and in so doing, break all his rules of survival: Put away some money to retire in a warm spot, never touch that money for anyone, never risk your life or career for an outsider, and if an agent goes "off the reservation" (engages in an unauthorized operation), don't go after him trying to pull him out.

Of course, most of this has been done before; in the aforementioned Redford movies, countless other celluloid tales of the past 50 years and the novels of writers who have built entire careers on this kind of material, from John le Carre to Tom Clancy and Frederick Forsyth. But "Spy Game" was directed by Tony Scott, who, like his brother Ridley, has already left his mark on the genre (see "Enemy of the State" and "Crimson Tide") and, with his arts and advertising background, understands that action movies are about visuals at least as much as about plot and character development: weak editing and camerawork will sink an action thriller as assuredly as weak acting. And Scott's direction is spot-on, in his choice of camera angles, movement and even coloring (providing every chapter with a unique color scheme), as well as his editing, so fast-paced that there are several details you only pick up on in your second or third viewing. Even in the largely static scenes in the CIA conference room, thanks to numerous small tricks, great dialogue and a cast of outstanding actors - including Stephen Dillane as Muir's intra-agency opponent Harker and Larry Bryggman as CIA vice-director Folger - Scott never loses the viewer's interest.

I do have a few issues with "Spy Game" - leaving aside that, as in most spy flicks, there are some sequences where I have to suspend just a bit too much of my disbelief (like the East Berlin sequences of the operation used to set up American mole Anne Cathcart [Charlotte Rampling] and parts of Muir's rescue operation for Bishop), I think it is a pity that a director/producer team otherwise so focused on authenticity didn't realize how many people would remember Robert Redford's looks in films like the above-mentioned ones, i.e. from the mid-1970s, coinciding with this movie's Vietnam and Berlin episodes; for although Redford has definitely gained in class and authority with his growing number of facial lines, which well behoove Tom Bishop's mentor, arguably there should have been at least some visible age difference between Muir's 1975 and 1991 looks. And just as an aside, from a native Berliner: Guys, much as I applaud your choice to substitute nightly Budapest streets for those of cold-war East Berlin, you shouldn't also have filmed the rooftop scene there, because neither the city's overall look nor its topography pans out to those who actually knew cold-war Berlin. (Not to mention the "vopos"' obvious Hungarian accents and a few other details I won't go into here.)

But overall this movie is certainly a cut above the rest of its class, due to great directorial work as much as that of Redford, Pitt and Catherine McCormack as Elizabeth Hadley, the woman who finally comes between them in Beirut: Redford as the inscrutable, controlling master spy - whose past is, unlike in the original screenplay, kept suitably ambiguous -, Pitt as the young gun, aptly codenamed "Boy Scout," who is not above exploiting "assets" for an operation's sake but does fall in love with the wrong woman at last, and McCormack as the tough, no-frills activist whose feelings for Bishop ultimately endanger not only him but also herself. - Last but not least, Harry Gregson-Williams's soundtrack deserves special mention: With an excellent blend of classic rock tunes (Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way" and Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" ... where are these on the soundtrack CD???) and a score alternating between middle eastern and Asian melodies, a boy soprano (Bishop & Hadley's love theme) and techno grooves, it is always in tune with the action and provides a perfect frame for the movie's voyage from Langley to Vietnam, Berlin, Beirut and China. This may not be one of film history's all-time greatest moments - but it is a well-crafted thriller and definitely worth watching if you're looking for some action.

If you do like movies with complicated plot, many flashback and a lot of dialog, Go For It ! My opinion : BORING ! Is there a mistake or what ?! The action starts in 91, Redford talks about his first meeting with Pitt through a flashback, in Vietnam in 75. They look exactly the same in 75 and 91.Not believable at all.They should have used younger actors or at the least, choose someone else than Brad Pitt, too young for the role.

If you enjoy the television series, 24, you
won't be able to help noticing the many
similarities they share, mostly in terms
of the 24 hour-type countdown. No, the
pace and plot (both of which are great) are
not as white-knuckle as 24's is, but that
won't stop fans of the series from hunkering down
and really enjoying this flick. Not to be missed.

Redford still has it and Pitt has it too, baby! Uh huh. That's right, my two boys both together in a movie. I've died and gone to heaven! This is a terrific tale full of surprises and intrigue. Well worth the time. A classic to be sure. Both men deliver solid performances and the film is sleek, smart, and easy to watch. Enjoy!

begins well and ends satisfying. I liked the basics of this movie. Redford brings Pitt into his world and trains him and then Pitt meets a women and falls in love with her and the woman is played great by the lovely Catherine McCormack(The Tailor Of Panama, Shadow Of The Vampire). lots of helicopter shots as well.