One of the Best of Its Kind. An Unshowy Cold War Thriller

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2015)

The name Steven Spielberg is usually enough for many people, including myself, to get excited for a movie. Throw in Tom Hanks and a script written with the help of the Coen Brothers and you have an instant must see, right? Despite all the star power in the movie, I was still a little hesitant going into the movie because a couple of Spielberg's recent efforts in the 2000's haven't been up to par for him. That being said, I exited this movie with a new-found interest in Cold War politics and its effect on the people.
The story Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance), an assumed Soviet spy who is captured and given to James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance lawyer, in order to give Abel a fair trial in court before sending him to the electric chair. However, on the other side of the world in the Soviet Union, one of the United States' spies is captured by the Soviets. Both countries agree to exchange the spies for each other and James Donovan is brought in once again to negotiate the swap.
The film does a good job at neither portraying the Soviets or Americans as the good guys and finding an unbiased standpoint between the two. Each character is portrayed expertly by their actors, but I was most impressed by Mark Rylance. Going into this movie, you already know that you are going to get a committed performance from Tom Hanks. Surprisingly, I thought that Rylance did an equal or even better job portraying Rudolph Abel. Rylance so effortlessly makes his character sympathetic and the poignant expressions and subtly in his performance is one of the best parts of this movie. Another surprising aspect of the movie was the large amount of humor. I guess I should have expected that coming from a script written by the Coen Brothers.
My one complaint of the film would be that the American spy captured Soviets was not developed nearly as well as Rylance in the United States. I was unsure if I was supposed to feel sympathetic because he was an American or anger because he failed to carry out his job and allowed himself to be caught.
Overall, Bridge of Spies is a masterfully crafted Cold War thriller with Spielberg beautifully showing the audience what he does best when at the helm. This is most definitely not a film for everyone, but those who appreciate an old-fashioned Hollywood thriller will find much enjoyment in the film.
"You're not worried?" "Would it help?"