Timely but missing some crucial scenes

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2015)

This meticulously made and filmed movie is fascinating and topical considering the state of relations with Russia today.
Some crucial things that should have been shown are left out. This movie had too much focus on Tom Hank's character Jim Donovan and his negotiations. It's interesting including the details of his catching a cold and the state of Berlin after the War but it sacrificed the broader picture. I think they could have shown the impact of the incidents on the relationship between Heads of State Eisenhower and Kruschev. Next, the shooting down of Power's plane was exciting but the movie should have shown him getting caught on the ground and paraded around Russia on TV. Thirdly, I wasn't sure how Abel was spying apart from the coin paper and how he was caught. Not very clear. Also I don't know if the silly student really got held up because he was so whipped about a fraulein but I found it so irritating that the whole negotiations could have been ruined by a silly infatuation. Leave him in East Germany - he deserved it considering what was at stake.
The movie really plays the unsung hero card making him scorned by the public and his ungrateful boss (as always Alan Alda plays a schmuck to perfection). Mark Rylance is effective as Abel. Austin Stowell makes a suitably stunned looking Powers.
Bottom line worth watching as a timely warning not to get into another cold war but the movie could have been better.