I knew very little about this movie going in, other than that it was presumably about the Cold War, Tom Hanks was in it, it had the look of an Oscar movie, and it gave off Spielberg vibes (though I didn’t realize it actually was a Spielberg film.) While I find it to be interesting and well-made, I’d probably rank it behind the other three best picture nominees I’ve seen so far.
This “based on a true story” film centers on James Donovan, a good lawyer tasked with a very undesirable job: defending Rudolf Abel, an accused Russian spy. The higher-ups explain that they have to give the impression of not running a kangaroo court, and so even though the guilty verdict is basically inevitable, they need a credible attorney defending him. Donovan takes the case and is almost universally reviled when he then does his job and gives his client the best defense he can. This places him in an incredibly difficult position, but sometime later, it also makes him the prime candidate for another highly sensitive job. This time, he’s brought in to arrange the delicate prisoner exchange of Abel for captured U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers.
Since I only knew the historical basics on Powers and nothing about Donovan specifically, I had no idea where the film was going, which made for an interesting viewing experience. I was kind of baffled when the movie gave a lot of buildup to a trial we didn’t really see, but of course, that’s not what the film really centers around. It’s not the trial itself – it’s Donovan’s association with Abel and his conduct throughout, both of which lead to his role in the Abel-for-Powers swap. It was a different sort of experience for me, waiting to figure out what the film was about.
One thing I had no idea of was the fact that this movie was co-written by the Coen Brothers (who, along with fellow writer Mark Charman, are up for best original screenplay.) That completely shocked me during the end credits, but looking back, I can see it. Not only is the story set up very well, but it also contains a surprising amount of quirky, incidental humor for a movie about war/espionage/interrogation/what it means to be a patriot or a traitor. There are random off-the-wall quips that are sort of startling but also really fun, as well as nice little human touches throughout. I imagine that many of these moments come down to the Coen influence.
This might seem like an unfair critique, but my biggest gripe with the movie is that it feels kind of routine. Compared to the other best picture nominees I’ve seen – Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and The Big Short – it seems obvious, a safe and familiar choice. It’s very well done, but it doesn’t really capture my interest like the other three do. (And I suppose it doesn’t help that I don’t think it measures up to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, my favorite Cold War spy movie.)
As Donovan, Tom Hanks is just as good as you expect him to be. I’m not sure what it is – even though, for me, the majority of Hanks’s characters feel very much like Hanks, they still work really well. Nominated supporting actor Mark Rylance (who I mainly know from his wonderfully-bizarre Tony Award acceptance speeches) gives a nice, understated performance as Abel, and Amy Ryan gets in a few good scenes as Donovan’s wife.
Warnings
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