Sometimes People Think Wrong

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2015)

I don't know what it is about 2015, but I think this year has been full of films that don't entirely meet your expectations. I don't necessarily mean that those films are bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems like film after film end up making me feel a bit letdown. Bridge of Spies is the new Steven Spielberg directed film based on true events during the cold war. It focuses on James B. Donovan, played by Tom Hanks, who is thrust into representing a supposed Soviet spy in court and Donovan's further involvement in executing an exchange of prisoners with Russia.
Much like Crimson Peak, this film is not really what the trailers make it out to be. The trailers heavily focused on the relationship between Donovan and his client, Rudolf Abel. The film gives us maybe 20 minutes between them in the beginning, but really that's all. To me, their relationship and the scenes between Hanks and Mark Rylance, who plays Abel, are easily the best the film has to offer. Even though it's never truly clear as to why Donovan backs this man so much and his motivations behind continuing the negotiations, I really bought into their dynamic. In fact, it's the only true payoff you get in the end is their relationship and its outcome.
By no means is Bridge of Spies a bad film, it's not. It doesn't help that it's directed by perhaps the greatest director of all time, in Steven Spielberg. Expectations are sometimes far too high for his films. But I think the problem here is that there's just not a ton of meat to this story and it's one of Spielberg's weaker films in recent memory, but really he doesn't make any bad films. Some things did bother me about his directing here though. For example, there is a character introduced within the first 10 minutes as Donovan's associate and partner. He attends Donovan's family dinner and seems to be set up as help to Donovan and a slight possible romance is hinted at with this character and Donovan's daughter. Well, after one scene we don't see this character ever again.
Amy Ryan plays Donovan's wife, who I absolutely adore as an actress, is also incredibly underused. I guess what I'm trying to get across here is that there is no flow to the movie. Or rather, no arc. It's very predictable, being a true story, but the tension isn't there either. It's a slow moving picture with a great climax but not a ton of build to get to that great climax. Surprisingly, this could be contributed to Spielberg. Spielberg does do a great job of taking us to the time of the Cold War. He certainly gives us the feeling that at any moment war could have been truly started by either side. The performances are all really good. Mark Rylance who plays Abel does a magnificent job in his limited screen-time and rightfully never gives one way or another in terms of his innocence. Tom Hanks is, well, Tom Hanks. And Thomas Newman replaces John Williams as the composer and does a wonderful job as he always does. There's a lot to really like about Bridge of Spies, more than not. But for me, it was just a bit of a letdown in its lack of intensity and pay off. I wouldn't have known it was the Coen Bros script and Spielberg's directing if it wasn't for the trailers and marketing.
+Rylance & Hanks together
+Spielberg transports you to the Cold War
+Newman's score
+Climax
-Lack of intensity
-Didn't get enough of Donovan and Abel together
7.0/10