by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright November 2015
The first part of Bridge of Spies is outstanding. It addresses the issue of why Rule of Law should take precedence over deep fears, and the feeling such fears spawn that, "Rule of Law is OK... But this case is special enough that it should be handled outside the law." It handles this well and I applaud the movie for it.
The parts that follow aren't so strong. There is a lot of inconsistency in the descriptions of Francis Gary Powers incident and the negotiating for the exchanges that follows.
So the movie is impressive in its beginning, then transforms into more average as it goes along.
The acting and settings in this movie are well handled. Hanks and Rylance do real good jobs of playing a principled lawyer and a stoic spy, and the rest of the cast also does just as well.
Spy Rudolf Able's capture and trial are reasonably well handled. The best part of the movie for me is Donovan getting recruited and then arguing vigorously for a good defense... no kangaroo court. I'm real happy to see this on the screen, and we need to see more of this kind of sentiment. (The real life converse to this is Eric Holder wanting to try 9-11 ringleaders in 2009 in Manhattan, under what would have been the shadow of the World Trade Center.) This part of the movie went real well for me. Then it starts getting average, and the inconsistencies raise their ugly heads.
The inconsistencies in the Gary Powers section begin with describing him as an Air Force lieutenant. Eh? The Air Force is going to put wet-behind-the-ears flyboys in charge of technologically advanced, super secret flying missions? Umm... not likely. Reading up on Powers in Wikipedia, he was a captain when he was discharged from the Air Force in 1956 and started working for the CIA as a GS-12. (His plane was shot down in 1960.) Powers and his co-fliers, in their own low-profile way, where as carefully selected as the first astronauts. This high level of experience makes a lot more sense than what is portrayed in the movie. And Powers was flying for the CIA, not the Air Force. Then following this opening inconsistency, the depiction of the breakup of his plane is pure Hollywood.
The following exchange part of the movie feels Spielbergish. In real life this was a chaotic time in East Germany and he does well at portraying that. I don't have any specific details on this to refer to, but the spy parts feel a bit too traditional spy movieish for my taste.
All-in-all I enjoyed Bridge of Spies. It's a good movie. But because of the build-up of inconsistencies after the beginning, it's not a great movie.
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