Despite pairing together two Hollywood heavyweights in Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, "Spy Game" never manages to escape from mediocrity.
Redford and Pitt play CIA agents with Redford the experienced professional and Pitt his young understudy recruited during the Vietnam War. The duo fall out and separate during one of their assignments, until Pitt many years later blows one of his missions and ends up being thrown into a Chinese prison.
With Pitt set to be executed for espionage in 24 hours, it's up to Redford on hs last day before retirement (how many times hasn't that been used before???? ie Lethal Weapon 3) to save his former companion from the Chinese and the rest of the CIA who don't want to get involved.
It's fascinating to see the long winded plan Redford concocts from his office to save Pitt without his overzealous superiors finding out. Without a doubt, the unfolding of this plot is the highlight of "Spy Game". Unfortunately, in order to make this work, much time is needed to be spent on flashbacks showing the forging of Pitt and Redford's relationships, and their relationship with a mysterious woman (Catherine McCormack) who comes between them. After a while, this becomes downright tedious and is drawn out much longer than necessary.
Also a little difficult to ascertain is the motives of Robert Redford's character. At one point he shows little remorse in accidentally killing 70 civilians in order to complete a mission, but then gives up his entire retirement savings and risks possible litigation to save one person. Redford is nevertheless not too bad, and neither is Pitt despite little screen time, but a bit tighter scripting may have helped both of them elevate this film.
As a side note, although "Spy Game" is advertised as an action movie, there is precious little action to be seen. Director Tony Scott seems to be trying more to make a "thinking man's" flick, which is probably not his forte and doesn't particularly suit his stylised direction with fast forward sequences and drained out colours (very similar to the way his brother Ridley shot "Black hawk Down").
Overall, don't expect to see anything overly remarkable with "Spy Game". It's good enough to pass the time as a Saturday afternoon rental, but it certainly won't be a film you'll be discussing for days afterward.
6/10
Redford and Pitt play CIA agents with Redford the experienced professional and Pitt his young understudy recruited during the Vietnam War. The duo fall out and separate during one of their assignments, until Pitt many years later blows one of his missions and ends up being thrown into a Chinese prison.
With Pitt set to be executed for espionage in 24 hours, it's up to Redford on hs last day before retirement (how many times hasn't that been used before???? ie Lethal Weapon 3) to save his former companion from the Chinese and the rest of the CIA who don't want to get involved.
It's fascinating to see the long winded plan Redford concocts from his office to save Pitt without his overzealous superiors finding out. Without a doubt, the unfolding of this plot is the highlight of "Spy Game". Unfortunately, in order to make this work, much time is needed to be spent on flashbacks showing the forging of Pitt and Redford's relationships, and their relationship with a mysterious woman (Catherine McCormack) who comes between them. After a while, this becomes downright tedious and is drawn out much longer than necessary.
Also a little difficult to ascertain is the motives of Robert Redford's character. At one point he shows little remorse in accidentally killing 70 civilians in order to complete a mission, but then gives up his entire retirement savings and risks possible litigation to save one person. Redford is nevertheless not too bad, and neither is Pitt despite little screen time, but a bit tighter scripting may have helped both of them elevate this film.
As a side note, although "Spy Game" is advertised as an action movie, there is precious little action to be seen. Director Tony Scott seems to be trying more to make a "thinking man's" flick, which is probably not his forte and doesn't particularly suit his stylised direction with fast forward sequences and drained out colours (very similar to the way his brother Ridley shot "Black hawk Down").
Overall, don't expect to see anything overly remarkable with "Spy Game". It's good enough to pass the time as a Saturday afternoon rental, but it certainly won't be a film you'll be discussing for days afterward.
6/10