Solid historical drama

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2017)

Bridge of Spies tells the story of lawyer James B Donovan's defense of a Russian spy and subsequent role as a negotiator in the trade of that spy for U.S. pilot Gary Powers.
It didn't strike me as that intriguing a story, honestly, but I like director Stephen Spielberg so I thought I'd take a look.
The result is surprisingly engaging. The story is simple but interesting, the movie deftly sketches out cold war tensions, and there are solid doses of humor and drama.
While I often find Tom Hanks a little too noble, he nicely underplays Donovan, who comes across not, like a lot of Hanks' roles, as a man so noble that he is on the verge of tears at his own nobility, but rather a smart lawyer with a great deal of integrity. There are no speeches, no tearful moments, but you wind up really admiring the guy.
Even better is Mark Rylance as the Russian spy, an odd, phlegmatic little guy with his own kind of integrity.
While the movie is entertaining and absorbing, it is a movie that, like Spielberg's Lincoln, feels a little too careful and educational to really bring history to life the way a movie like Spotlight does. Spielberg seems to have lost interest in taking chances (I really think he should break out of his mold and make a Dogme 95-style film), and that can make his films seem a touch stodgy, but he still has that remarkable directorial expertise, and certainly knows how to make a movie.