Spy Game (2001)
Directed by Tony Scott
Written by David Arata, Michael Frost Beckner
Starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane
Release Date November 21, 2001
Published November 25th, 2001
Director Tony Scott is not known for substance. The famed director of Crimson Tide, Top Gun and Enemy Of the State is more identified a with stylish slickness that has almost become a genre all it's own, an offshoot of the traditional action genre but cleaner. I would like to say that with Spy Game things changed for Tony Scott and he took on a more serious and substantial version of the action genre, something fitting the massive star-power at his disposal. But no, Spy Game is as slick and substance free as any other Tony Scott vehicle.
Fortunately it worked for Spy Game. Scott's slick style combined with electric performances by Brad Pitt and Robert Redford make Spy Game very entertaining ever as it is a fully mindless action spectacle directed like a music video. Spy Game is the story of CIA agent Nathan Muir (Redford) who, on what was to be the day of his career as a spy, must find a way to save the life of his former protégé Tom Bishop (Pitt).
Bishop was captured during a daring rescue attempt in a Chinese prison. Now, on the eve of Chinese trade talks, the CIA and the executive branch are deciding how best to keep a lid on this possible scandal. The option favored by most, including the President of the United States, is to let the Chinese execute Bishop. The movie unfolds that story while also layering in the backstory of how Muir's legendary spy met and trained Bishop as the next generation of American spy.
It's rather fitting when you think about it, Robert Redford essentially passing the movie star torch to Brad Pitt. That would likely have made more sense in the 90s before Pitt became one of the biggest stars in the world and needed a rub from someone like Redford, but regardless, these two are a perfect pair to provide generational counterpoint to one another. They also both formerly known as the sexiest man alive which makes them the perfect surfaces to be reflected by Scott's style over substance brand.
There is plenty of backstory in Spy Game and much of it plays off of CIA history. Redford's Muir recruiting and training Pitt's Bishop in flashbacks set in the 1980s when the CIA was all over Lebanon and the Middle East trying to use traditional spycraft to get a handle on Middle Eastern relations. My favorite parts of Spy Game are the stories of the CIA in Lebanon in the 80's, scenes that are shocking yet very believable given Lebanon's colorful history.
To be completely honest Spy Game may not have a brain in it's head but neither did The Fast and the Furious and that went on to be one of the best brainless movie franchises in history. What makes Spy Game so good is Redford who plays a brilliant game of mental chess with the audience and with everyone else in the movie. Redford is always one step ahead of everyone and yet takes time to wink at the audience and let us in time to get the joke. It's a great performance and it elevates Spy Game to more than just another slick, fast-paced, action flick.
