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| Tom Hanks stars in Spielberg's Bridge Of Spies |
A CURIOUS footnote in Cold War history becomes an intriguing, thought-provoking thriller in Bridge Of Spies, mounted with consummate craftsmanship by Steven Spielberg.
Bridge Of Spies (12A, 141mins)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance
Based on the long forgotten story of a top secret spy swap that occurred between America and Russia at the height of the icy stand-off, it is less action-packed spy yarn, more character study and a celebration of personal integrity, even when everyone else may be losing theirs.
As such, there are powerful echoes for today’s world in which upholding core principles is more important and more testing than ever when faced with appalling threats, while there are more obvious parallels thanks to the current level of tension between Russia and the West.
At its centre is the fascinating and hugely appealing figure of James Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance lawyer from Brooklyn. Donovan is a skilled negotiator who had prosecuted at the Nuremberg war trials. He is a man who embodies the best of democratic virtues, summed up in his, and the film’s, motto: “Everyone deserves a defence...every person matters.”
In other words, he is a perfect fit for Hanks. One of the chief pleasures of the film is watching the star give a superb performance in the kind of role you cannot imagine anyone else playing so well.
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| Bridge Of Spies: Long forgotten story of a top secret spy |
He is matched brilliantly by Mark Rylance as inscrutable Soviet spy Rudolph Abel who is arrested by the FBI in New York in 1957 and faces trial after refusing to do a deal that would involve him betraying his country. Abel and Donovan are the odd couple at the picture’s heart. They develop a respect and understated affection that transcends national rivalries.
The movie’s first half is a legal drama as Donovan is appointed to be Abel’s lawyer and takes the job more seriously than his colleagues and even the judge expect him to because “the justice system can’t toss people on to the ash heap”, however guilty.
Cleverly, Donovan’s defence of Abel is cast as an act of great patriotism. You find yourself rooting for the mysterious Russian who never seems to lose his cool, even at the prospect of the electric chair. “Do you never worry?” asks Donovan.
“Would it help?” is the droll reply in an often humorous script by Briton Matt Charman along with film noir renegades the Coen brothers.
The second half sees Donovan on a fraught mission to East Berlin just after the wall has gone up to facilitate a spy swap: Abel for captured American spy plane pilot Gary Powers.
Will his quiet heroism and integrity stand up to the pressure of his high stakes mission? What makes a hero? In its themes and wartime context Bridge Of Spies is quintessential Spielberg and the era is beautifully recreated. It is too long and not edge-of-the-seat exciting but it is captivating throughout and superbly performed.
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| Johnny Depp stars in Black Mass |
The Good Dinosaur (PG, 100mins)
Director: Peter Sohn
Voices: Raymond Ochoa, Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, Jack Bright
After the dazzling daring and sophistication of Inside Out, makers Pixar deliver their most simplistic and conventional yarn, The Good Dinosaur. My eight-year-old son declared himself too old for it and I couldn’t really argue as I would say eight is the upper limit for this sweet but rather ordinary adventure. It is a solid, ravishingly animated coming-of-age tale, not without charm but lacking the invention, boldness and characterisation we have come to expect from Pixar.
The most original thing is the premise: 65 million years ago the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs...missed.
Cut to “several million years later” and the planet still belongs to dinosaurs with humans yet to walk and talk. We crawl around and communicate by howling, judging by the one “human” that we encounter, a mop-haired tyke, Spot, who wears a nappy of foliage and behaves like an excitable puppy.
The twist is that it is the dinos who talk. The protagonist is a timid herbivore named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), who has to prove himself worthy of, literally, “making his mark”: only after proving his courage will he be able to plant his mud-caked footprint on a wall at the family farm.
What follows is a sweet but predictable odyssey after Arlo’s father is killed in a flood and Arlo is washed up far from home with the wordless Spot, who inadvertently caused his father’s death. If the storytelling is under par for Pixar, the animation is stunning with beautiful landscapes inspired by the American Northwest, complete with vividly realistic raging torrents, thunderous storms and dramatic vistas.
VERDICT: 3/5
Black Mass (15, 123mins)
Director: Scott Cooper
Stars: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch
Johnny Depp roughs up, to a degree, to play creepy, balding Boston gangster Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger in Black Mass, a starrily cast drama about Bulger’s ascent from small time criminal to crime lord in the 1970s and 80s. Much of the story focuses on his relationship with a South Boston FBI agent, John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), who made a deal with Bulger to grass on rival gangsters in return for a blind eye turned to Bulger’s own activities, abetting his rise up the criminal food chain.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Whitey’s loyal brother Billy Bulger who, remarkably, was the State Senator. It is never clear how much he knew of his brother’s activities which renders his role a bit pointless.
Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), there are a number of well staged scenes but you cannot escape a strong sense of déjà vu. Bulger may be uniquely awful but his story is very familiar and it doesn’t help that there is no one to root for.
VERDICT: 3/5
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| Cate Blanchett in Carol |
Carol (15, 118mins)
Director: Todd Haynes
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Cate Blanchett gives an exquisite performance as a unhappily married woman, Carol, trapped by convention, and devotion to her own young daughter, in high society New York in 1950.
When she falls for Therese (Rooney Mara), a wide-eyed young shopgirl in a department store, a friendship begins which threatens her cherished role as a mother while bringing a newfound sense of self.
Directed by Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) and based on the novel The Price Of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, the picture is beautifully shot and strongly atmospheric.
However, I found it monotonous and strangely unengaging, a consequence perhaps of a slight story and a “love interest”, Rooney’s doleful Therese, who has precious little spark.
VERDICT: 3/5
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