Bridge of Spies - does not go one Too Far

[NowhereMan]

So with all the arguing about the Ep VII, MCU and the shitshow that is (and looks to continue to be) the DCU no-one's mentioned this one in the forum as far as I can see. Basic plot: Tom Hanks plays the lawyer picked to defend Soviet spy caught operating in the US who was later exchanged for Gary Powers (the US Pilot who performed with Bono). It's a historical piece and I'm not familiar with the events beyond the barebones stuff, so I can't comment on the historical accuracy really beyond the normal assumptions that some important figures get combined or left out (I feel that the legal aides probably get less attention than they should) and timelines get accelerated to help with narrative. Nothing seemed horribly egregious as long as it doesn't turn out the actual lawyer was entirely uninvolved or something.

On movie merits, I really, really enjoyed this movie. The acting is really strong and Hanks has a role that he suits very well. At times he feels a little bit too boyscout but they do juuust enough scheming lawyer dialogue to keep him from being tiresome. Mark Rylance does a great job as laconic and stoic Soviet, the slightly mixed up accent suits the history of the character pretty well. I don't really feel there were any weak performances. The pacing is great, after seeing tFA it was nice to be in a movie that never felt rushed but also, without any action scenes really, never left me looking at my watch to see when the climax was coming. You know what the resolution of the film is going to be but I never find myself wondering 'when, oh when are we going to get there?'

Basically this was a really good film if you don't need explosions and action to make something watchable.

[Merusk]

I wanted to watch this but I couldn't get the wife interested. It's not a movie I felt like going to watch alone in the theater so I skipped it. Heard it was as great as you say so I'll catch it on Netflix eventually.