Spy Game
***
Cinema
Releases - November 23, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 127
minutes. Directed by Tony Scott. Written by David Aratna, Michael Frost Beckner;
from a story by Beckner. Starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack,
Stephen Dillane, Marriane Jean-Baptiste, Larry Bryggman.
"Spy Game" begins with Robert Redford
about to retire from the CIA, when he learns that his former protégé,
played by Brad Pitt, has been arrested in China for espionage. Redford had
always told Pitt to be merciless and ignore personal feelings -- if someone
needed to be sacrificed for the greater good, then so be it.
But now Redford refuses to take his own advice,
and starts to try and save Pitt by working around the people above him. The
suits making decisions will quite happily let Pitt be executed as long as
the affair is kept quiet, and doesn't sour relations or endanger trade talks
with the U.S. Redford is offended, and asks "Remember when we used to know
the difference between the good guys and the bad guys?" He sees international
security as something worth dying for, but not public
relations.
The film is set in 1991, and the CIA top brass
are seen as slimy bastards whose entire interest in Redford's knowledge of
Pitt seems to be to try and find an excuse to let Pitt die. It brought a
smile to my face, the way this is a movie released during the administration
of President Bush Jr that goes out of its way to stick it to the CIA of Poppy
Bush.
But wait -- I'm making the film sound serious.
Do remember that "Spy Game" was directed by Tony Scott, and is therefore
popcorn entertainment to the core. It has the aura of the better Jack Ryan
movies, "The Hunt for Red October" and "Patriot Games", with lots of men
in suits sitting in dark rooms, looking extremely nervous, mixing frosty
military language with the occasional Big Moral Speech. This is cool stuff,
fronted by two of our finest stars.
The last time Redford and Pitt worked together
was on "A River Runs Through It", when Redford was just starting to be considered
an elder statesman of the acting community and Pitt was new on the scene.
Their talents and reputations have matured in the decade since, and today
it is easier to appreciate how special this onscreen coupling really
is.
The narrative structure through which we are
introduced to the two men is also savvy. The 'present day' of the film takes
place during Redford's last day in the CIA, being asked all those questions
by the suits. Everything else takes place in flashback -- Pitt and Redford
meeting for the first time, in Vietnam; Pitt's training; the pair's missions
together; the development of their relationship. All the background we see
comes about through Redford's answers to questions, a device which gives
the screenplay the freedom to dart around its timeline however it wants,
showing Pitt and Redford in lots of different spy situations. The only plot
thread that needs to run throughout is the bond between the two men, which
of course is simple enough.
"Spy Game" is not worth skipping "Harry Potter"
for, but it is worth a look. Dunno about you, but I miss those Jack Ryan
movies, and this fills the void. Without going to the extremes of James Bond
gadgetry, it is slick throughout, with convincing production design, arresting
photography and efficient pace (it lasts for 127 minutes, but hey, there's
a lot of plot). There is something fun about watching espionage -- simple
as that. It's a guy thing.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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