BRIDGE OF SPIES MOVIE REVIEW

It’s been over 10 years since the last Spielberg - Tom Hanks collaboration. They have so far made 3 films together - Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal; all turning out to be classics in their own right. Now with the duo joining hands again for Bridge Of Spies, the expectation that it entices is massive.

Bridge Of Spies (BOS) is based on the real life story of James Britt Donovan, a lawyer from the USA, who signs up as a negotiator to salvage an American pilot, who is kept captive by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Being a biopic, the makers have tried to re-emulate the original locations as much as possible, some of the scenes are said to be shot at the very same place the real events actually took place. With extreme dexterity, the art department has brought back the 50s vintage look.

BOS breaks Spielberg’s 30 year long association with music director John Williams, as the ace composer had to back off due to health issues. Thomas Newman, who replaces him, is as equally gifted as any other in the business. The symphony that comes towards the end, is nothing short of pure bliss. The overall score sounds so very sweet and pleasing. There are a lot of scenes which purposefully do not have any music, to set the mood right but one might wonder if Newman is a little underused here. Likewise the music composition is drastically different to what we expect from a Spielberg movie, though it sounds very nice and sets the tone perfectly, it’s just not Spielbergish.

Coming to Tom Hanks, here is a man who can never come up with a bad performance. Though it is not one of the tougher roles that he has played, not one of the characters that requires him to drain all his blood and sweat, still to give a performance of such artistry and finesse, is something that he must be eulogized for. This is just a cake walk for him. Even the other characters are cast to perfection. Mark Rylance, who plays a captive Russian spy, does a clean job with very subtle expressions and melts your heart when he says “does it help”.

You don’t get to see such an emotionally gripping espionage drama which has been made with such craftsmanship, that often. The profound humane love between a US lawyer/negotiator James B Donovan (Tom Hanks) and a captive espionage, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), shows that people do not differ by race, cast, country or even language but by the kind of people they are.

BOS is Spielberg’s way of saying that he still means business. All the actors have been put to best use. Technically the film might look a little old school, but that's what the script demands. With flawless precision, BOS portrays pure class and craftsmanship from the master, Steven Spielberg.