7/10

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2015)

Whilst it won't be making any top Spielberg lists nor it will register as one of the year's best for me, "Bridge of Spies" was a very welcome time at the cinema, that proves Spielberg is still going strong.
And at times you feel like he's going as strong as ever. I refer that to many little scenes that the film has, especially at the beginning with Mark Rylance. The majority of them are small chase scenes, yet Spielberg manages to stage all of them so intimately that even in the opening where you don't know who is who yet, you still feel genuine tension coming out. That is especially thanks to how to camera is placed and moved which really makes itself noticeable, but happily so because it is a pleasure to see unfold on screen.
Unfortunately, Spielberg misses the mark with the overall story and emotional core for me. That is something that I see many people disagreeing on, Stuckmann for example talked about how truly what the movie is about, is two nations with different views getting along. Regretfully so I really didn't see many layers to the film, I was always engaged by the plot moving forward, but I never felt emotional about much stuff and it showed in the climax and finale that should have been the usual overwhelming of emotions from Spielberg (that for example I got from Lincoln, even though I dislike the film), but it just never arrived for me. I didn't get involved in anything other than the story and had a really hard time grasping the movie's arch, message and overall emotional punch. That is also probably due to the way many morality issues are dealt with. I get it's subjective, that there is no need to have a conclusion on the issue, but the film constantly sidelined the discussion that was going on about the moral issues involved, so much so that I found it to be murky on the subject. They are brought up throughout, but as soon as they come in they are left aside for the story to move on, so your left watching the story unfold, but I was thinking: "can't we go back to the part where they discuss that?".
Anyways, that's enough for the lacks I found with the film. Overall I must say that as much as I didn't grasp the underlying thematic layers, I dug that story a lot. In a 140 minute movie I was never, ever bored for a second, I always wanted to see what happened next and Tom Hanks is probably on of the main reasons for it. He made every scene go out with a punch and negotiations discussions fascinating. What can I say? It was a really well written screenplay which brilliantly managed to tell a story without you ever getting confused, especially looking at how many characters there are.
If you're going in expecting some Spielberg magic you will certainly be disappointed, but that's a really tall order. I think that what you get is a very good and surprisingly fun time at the cinema.