Good movie but grossly overrated

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Director Tony Scott is no newcomer in directing military thrillers and stories of political intrigue. His past films include Top Gun, Crimson Tide, and Enemy of the State. This is not new ground for actor Robert Redford either. Redford plays Nathan Muir, a CIA operative on his last day on the job. At different points, Redford's character reminded me of his previous characters in All The President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, and Sneakers.In Spy Game, both actor and director live up to the standards set by these previous works, and on occasion even manage to transcend. Redford's Nathan Muir is recruiter and mentor for protégé Tom Bishop (capably portrayed by Brad Pitt). Like this year's Training Day the center of the film is the tension between the cynical, somewhat jaded veteran and the starry-eyed idealist rookie. Like this year's Tailor of Panama or Oliver Stone's Salvador there is a love interest that complicates the relationship between the two men. In an odd twist of casting fate, Catherine McCormack (Braveheart, Dangerous Beauty) plays the love interest in this film and in Tailor of Panama.The central debate that drives the film is the ethics of espionage. What means are justified by particular desired ends? The question is certainly a relevant and important question in the current political context. The plot, in brief, is protégé becomes a rogue spy in order to save his love interest, and veteran becomes a rogue in order to save his protégé.Any good thriller has to have sufficient twists and turns to keep us guessing, and Spy Games does not disappoint. The story is well written and director Scott does a good job of making the story come to life. The performances by Pitt and McCormack are solid performances, but Redford's Nathan Muir is the central character and Redford makes the most of the part. In fact, I have difficulty imagining another acting playing the part after watching Redford at work. The Redford persona that started with the Sundance Kid comes through in the world-weary, somewhat cynical Nathan Muir.I was tempted to review Harry Potter this week (I liked it). For engaging fantasy and escape, Harry Potter is hard to beat. I suspect, however, that Harry Potter fans have already seen the film and Harry Potter detractors will see it when Hogwarts Academy freezes over. If you are ready for a film that will keep you engaged and stimulate conversations about realpolitik in the modern era, or if you want to see Redford at the top of his game, Spy Game is worth a look.

Is there anyone from China writing reviews about how nonsense details they have in the movie? the script writer and even the whole crew need much much more homeworks to do. I mean geographical details at least. I knew that the script writer wanna to set the coincidental maps between Bahamas shore and east China coast shore. but you'd better put the Amrican military base in Okinawa, Japan. there is no base in Penghu, Taiwan, and Okinawa is shorter flying to Shanghai. and they need to set the prison site at Tilanqiao prison in Shanghai, the Suzhou pirson is far inland of China, I do not think that the helicopters can fly over the Shanghai air-defense zone unless you cut all the power grid of eastern China rather than only Suzhou city.it's the year of 1991, why there are so many cultural revolution slogan on the prison wall. which had taken place in 60s-70s. do you think it's the graffiti wall in a bar. and the accent of those Chinese actor are cantonese ,not standard mandarin. it might be not easy to find a group of Chinese actors who from mainland China to speak the local accent or mandarin as I guess. I believe that there might be no one knows about it, to the western audiences and the movie crews, they are all the same. and those uniform of prison guards is big farce, the crew might not know the details too. I do not want elaborate more on this.The van used in the film in Suzhou prison, then used the same van in Beirut, Lebanon. I do not think you are short of budget, which then you can rent several helicopters to film. and the scence that all prisoners knock their rice bowl on the cell fence togehter, that only will happen in american movie, it doesn't look like China at all.Despite those weakness which I do not want list them all, I also want to say it's standard and good hollywood movies though, no big mistakes on other elements of the film. from this point of view, the only way can explain all this is that the u. s. film industry or amrican hoi polloi have little knowledge about China, even they want to work hard on it. so I also begin to doubt about American movie that depicts Middle East, Russia and Africa then, it's all your own imagary pictures of them.

Spy Game is almost a good movie. Unfortunately, it fails to pay off on any of its worthwhile ambitions.At first, it seems like some sort of inside look at the 'spy game.' Brad Pitt's character is going to learn something about life and morality, as in a LeCarre thriller. Pitt does eventually make a big realization, but it's abrupt, with very little psychological lead-up. And the subsequent evolution of the story is barely sketched in. Early on, Pitt looks like one type of character. Later, we're told he's another type. The only thing missing is the good stuff in between.Meanwhile, as we see what Redford's character is up to, we're tempted to think this may be some sort of cat-and-mouse intellectual exercise, reminiscent of the brilliant Hopscotch. But Redford's 'cleverness' just isn't all that clever, or even interesting. He reads the back of a memo. He uses the phone in a neighbouring office. He steals a key card. Big deal. Not only are they banal, most of these events (such as his final exit from the film) are completely implausible. Unless you put your brain on 'Park,' you're constantly asking yourself "But wouldn't they see that?" "Couldn't the world's biggest spy organization just send some people to stop him?" "Aren't there procedures that anticipate this sort of simple trick?"And again, as with Pitt, we are left totally in the dark as far as Redford's ultimate change of character. Why does he act against all the weighty advice he gives Pitt early on in his training? We see that he's undergone some sort of transformation, but never given any insight into it. One minute, Redford is an unchanging brick of a character, a bastion of the amoral CIA philosophy. The next, he's a malicious prankster with an over-riding personal morality. This key transformation happens off-screen (like Pitt's), with no explanation. That's not clever, it's just annoying. If I wanted to write my own movie, I wouldn't be watching this one.Along the way, there are endless plot holes. The biggest of all being the basic framework of the story. Why is a committee of CIA top brass sitting around for two days, listening to Redford's reminiscences? Someone says it's to 'get something' on Pitt's character. That's not remotely plausible. We actually see a manufactured press item on the news, at one point, showing how easily the whole problem can be addressed, without listening to hours of Redford's banter, and without giving Redford hours to take action, as he's left to wander unsupervised through CIA headquarters.Spy Game isn't unpleasant to watch. It's nicely produced, with some genuinely interesting episodes. Unfortunately, those episodes fail to connect into a coherent whole. The Redford and Pitt characters are intriguing, but we never learn what makes them tick. They're ciphers at the end just as they were at the beginning.Watching Spy Game is like reading the outline of a movie. A good movie, to be sure. Maybe someone will make it someday.

The only reason I do not give this movie a 10 is because of some apparent flaws. But for once I am forgiving them all for a great story. This is after all not "based on true events", no need to get the facts right. I loved the soundtrack, it put a lot of depth into the story. Seen it now 5 times, will see it again. For any fan of Brad Pitt, this movie is a must. His portray of the frustrated Vietnam vet behind a desk in Germany is well done. Robert Redford is never bad and excels as well. And the thing with Dinner Out, a touching masterpiece. Also for anyone into spy movies, I recommend this one.