The true story begins with the arrest of a painter in Brooklyn, an isolated, remarkably cool fellow named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance, an instant contender for a supporting actor nomination). (Clearly, Spielberg should’ve directed a “Mad Men” episode.) Even if it is two movies squashed into one, “Bridge of Spies” is an exemplary throwback.”Bridge of Spies” (3½ stars)A good period piece from Steven Spielberg, even if the film seems like two separate pictures. Whether he’s recreating all of his iconic movie roles in eight minutes with James Corden or pondering life’s great mysteries with Stephen Colbert, the delightful T. Hanks is, well, a damn delight. British stage and screen actor Mark Rylance co-stars as Abel, the spy whose deadpan countenance serves as comic relief. Donovan, a top-notch insurance lawyer based in New York City, is conscripted by the government to perform a thankless duty – to defend Rudolf Abel, an elderly Russian artist accused to be a spy.
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Sometime later, U.S. Air Force pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is shot down over Soviet airspace. “That’s a different kind of man, elsewhere, and when you take that into account, it pays off in the screenplay”. Instead, the film focuses on the people and emphasizes why they’re what’s important. At first reluctant, given the national ill will toward his prospective client, Donovan decides Abel has the right to legal representation. In Hanks’ hands, Donovan becomes a real person – runny nose, doubts and all. Never too butch or too handsome, he’s the flawless example of a “regular Joe”, which makes it nearly ridiculously easy to identify with him, or root for him, especially when his characters are meant to be sympathetic.
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Donovan goes from being hated for his defense of Abel to being respected for bringing the American boys home, and while I respect the arc of Donovan’s story, Spielberg adds an extra layer of cheese to the movie’s ending that made my eyes roll. The one thing he’s successful at is staving off Abel’s execution, asking what if the Russians ever have something the USA wants? In a parallel plot, a group of young pilots are sent on a mission to spy on the Soviets. The show started with Hanks and Fallon joking how they used to yell gibberish at each other whenever they saw each other. The character is a prop, an excuse for Donovan’s secret, complex negotiations in East Berlin to free him. He plays him as a highly intelligent foot soldier who has seen enough to know that even possible execution isn’t enough to get worked up over. That’s James B Donovan (Hanks) speaking, and once again Steven Spielberg hits the nail on the head with a film so politically astute for its times. Somehow, Hanks can get away with offering lofty principles without sounding overly grandiose and that certainly improves the film. That was in 1998, but their friendship goes back to the 1980s.
