Spy Game starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt international thriller- review by Reel Cinema

SPY GAME
STARS: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack
Rated: R
Score: 3/10

To be brutally honest, this was absolutely one of the most boring films I've seen this year. Maybe it's because I'm not a guy (yes i've gotten e-mail from men who insist this is a fabulous movie). I like Redford, it's hard not to. And Pitt has had some decent roles. Pitting them together (no pun intended) seemed inevitable. I remember back when "A River Runs Through It" came out remarking how Brad Pitt looked and had Redfords mannerisms, which seemed fitting since Redford narrarated the movie (albiet as his brother). And the way the film starts out - it seems promising enough....

Nathan Muir (Redford) is a CIA agent who is about to retire. But he finds himself in one last mission. One of his protige's Tom Bishop (Pitt) has been captured in China for espionage. Exactly what he was up to in his mission isn't known, and those working around Muir are trying to find evidence to basically 'sack him' as an agent. An excuse to get rid of him, because otherwise this kind of scandal might jeopardize some important talks. Muir isn't going to stand for it - the movie basically runs through Muir telling about their past. How he found Bishop, how he trained him and other details which take the audience back in time. But I kinda hate these flashbacks becoming a main focus of a movie - as it inevitably becomes distracting. Redford is really enjoyable, you want him to "stick it to em" in trying to save his friend.

But this film just fell apart, in the end it's the type of ending that might get the audience to say "alright", but the way it took us there was just too long and boring. At one point Redford says "Time is a dangerous thing. It leaves a man thinking 'what if?'"

In my mind I agreed. I began thinknig "Yeah, what if this movie were shorter? What if it were more interesting? What if I had just stayed home?"

In the end what we have is a movie that would like to draw us in but loses the audience in the process by taking it's time in leading us up to the climax. Movies that spend too much time digging back in time to how things all began and then flash forwarding to present moment and then back again just make one wish it would sit still so we could really get into the scene instead of ripping us from it to show us something else. I would have actually liked it to be as exciting as the trailer looked. I gave it a higher rating than I could have, because I like Redfords performance and it did have some noteworthy scenes.

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