Hey folks, Harry here with a new look at SPY GAME. We've had reviews from the prior test screenings, and some really liked it and some had reservations. This review is of a print much closer to the final film. Basically just the score is left to be laid in, along with the final sound mix, and the film is ready to go. SO... That's where we are. Hopefully we'll hear additional reports so we can see if more people agree, and if the film has improved over the earlier cut, but typically I like Tony Scott flicks.
Hey Harry...
Had the opportunity to see a film called 'Spy Game' tonight that you've probably heard about and seen the trailer for at the movies lately.
I have to say that I was a little hesitant to see Brad Pitt and Robert Redford together - Pitt has been a favorite "co-actor" of mine for awhile and when I say "co-actor," put him next to any other great actor and 98% of the time he rocks (the "98%" = 12 Monkeys,Seven, Fight Club; the "2%" = Meet Joe Black, The Devil's Own) -
Robert Redford has really done nothing for me as I have never been a fan of his... wait, I take that back. I just thought of a film, similar in nature to this film - "Three Days of the Condor," that I liked him in. Mental note: see it again.
The film is also directed by Tony Scott who I always thought of as the original Bruckheimer bitch and as the guy who got screwed as far as the directing genes in his family.
Finally I am able to realize the filmmaking similarities in the brothers. It's a pretty smart movie. And even though it was a little complex, it's not spoon-feeding you the details... it makes you think and it makes you figure out what the stakes are and what's going on in the characters'minds.
So, anyway, per the title you know it's a spy thriller. Pitt plays Tom Bishop, Redford's protégé in the CIA and, after years together, he's become a rogue spy. After a botched rescue mission to save his terrorist girlfriend from a China prison, Bishop gets captured by the guards and tortured by the Chinese government.
The CIA has to figure out how to get him back within 24 hours - or whether to get him back at all since they didn't approve his mission -- he went off on his own. Redford, who plays Nathan Muir, is called in on the verge of his retirement to aid the CIA with background facts on Bishop's character.
Muir knows, though, that they may be hanging him out to dry. So, from this vantage point, we see how the Bishop/Muir relationship developed - from Vietnam, to Berlin, to Beirut, to, well anywhere there was a big news story of some operative activity in the last 20 years. Throughout these flashbacks we get a glimpse of great spy tricks of the trade.
In no way are these 'James Bond' in nature - these are more based on mental games that they have to play. They're done in a very believable manner, not where you respond with a "yea, right" remark. And while we know that the two characters aren't close anymore, we understand why Redford's character would do anything he can to save him.
*Funny side-bar observation - Pitt & Redford really don't seem to age too much throughout their 20+ year relationship. The "Redford lens" all Vasolined up was in definite use.*
Aside from this little side-bar, the two worked well together - the chemistry was there. Pitt played it low-key, but appropriately, and Redford played his "smarter than everyone else around him and knows it" part believably. Some of the best parts are seeing how he messes with the other characters' heads.
This is in no way is an action movie. To be honest with you, it's dialogue heavy and a lot of it takes place in one room - yet it still had me captivated.
Again, a clever movie. There are a couple fancy camera tricks, but they were used sparingly and appropriately. It was announced in the beginning that the music was temp, so I can only say that what they used was used well. As for the cinematography, Harry, I remember in your "Blow" article, you mentioned Ted Demme using different film stock for each time period represented. When I saw that movie, I was a little disappointed in how it looked. I think what I was expecting was more what Scott did here. Without being too Oliver Stone-ish, each setting (Vietnam, Beirut, etc.) looked like the time in which it took place. The film stock was dead-on. Of course in no way should that be a tool to judge a film, but it just kicked this movie as a whole up a notch and it looked authentic when meshed with a few stock footage shots from the time periods.
So, there you have it. My look at "Spy Game." Now TalkBack up a storm my minions!
-- Shwanky Hank
