Competent, unspectacular but enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2018)

A well-made and acted but understated cold-war drama about the exchange of prisoners between the USA and the USSR in Germany.
Tom Hanks is reliably good as the insurance lawyer James Donovan, drawn into cold-war intrigue, representing a Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in court. Mark Rylance gives a quiet, understated performance as the spy. Rylance is competent, but the performance is rather a surprising nod for an Oscar.
After an American spy pilot is shot down over Soviet air space, much of the film is set in Berlin as Donovan negotiates with Soviet and East German authorities for the release of the pilot and an American student captured in East Berlin in exchange for Abel.
The scene where the pilots plane is shot down, is poorly filmed with cheap special effects.
But otherwise the film is well shot with excellent period detail and atmosphere. Although some of the scenes in East Berlin verge slightly on absurd, a hint of the Coen brothers influence as screenwriters for the film.
Amy Ryan is largely wasted as Donovan's wife while the early scenes detailing Abels court case feel a bit short and underdeveloped. And the final scenes fall prey to Steven Spielberg's usual twee sensibilities. But overall, the film represents a decent notch in the well worn and capable partnership between Spielberg and Hanks.