Standard Of Review: Don't Pick Bridge Of Spies In Your Academy Awards Pool
In preparation for the Oscars this Sunday, it's a perfect time to review one of the two legal films nominated for best picture, the Cold War drama Bridge of Spies.
At this point in my life, the Academy Awards are the only award show that I actually watch. As a television fan, the Emmys’ preference for adequate shows like Modern Family infuriates me. And it is exceedingly rare that I actually regularly listen to any music nominated for any major Grammy awards. But even though the Academy Awards will often irritate me (this year, the lack of recognition for Creed and Ex Machina was particularly baffling), I still care. I still beam with pride when my favorite movies are nominated or win, even if that victory has little meaning other than that an out-of-touch group of people preferred it. In preparation for this Sunday’s awards, it is a perfect time to review one of the two legal films nominated for best picture, the Cold War drama Bridge of Spies (I reviewed the other one, Spotlight, last fall, and sadly for me, my favorite film of the year, Mad Max: Fury Road, is not law-related).
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies stars Tom Hanks as James Donovan, a New York-area insurance attorney who specializes in settlement negotiations. In 1957, for reasons that are never really explained, Donovan gets roped by his law partner Thomas Watters (Alan Alda) into taking on the criminal defense of Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Brooklyn man who has just been arrested by the FBI for spying for the Soviet Union. Despite the fact that Abel is almost certainly guilty, it is important that he is at least given the appearance of having an actual, robust defense. Donovan takes his job seriously, challenging the FBI’s warrantless search of Abel’s apartment as violating the Fourth Amendment. At the same time, the United States is ramping up its own espionage, sending U-2 spy planes with high-strength photographic lenses over the Soviet Union. However, U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell, who looks like he is auditioning for an Eli Manning biopic) is shot down and captured by the Soviets. As Abel’s lawyer, Donovan is tasked by the CIA to travel to East Berlin and negotiate a trade of Abel for Powers.
My biggest problem with Bridge of Spies is its pacing. At over 140 minutes, the film is not short by any means, and yet many elements of the film feel rushed. For example, Donovan agrees to take Abel’s case very quickly. He shows up to work one day, Watters tells him he should take the case, Donovan puts up some mild resistance, but then agrees to do it. Given that Donovan is not a criminal attorney and the case is a political firecracker, I imagine that in reality the decision was much more complicated and time-consuming.
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Similarly, Abel’s case goes by with lightning speed. I understand the filmmakers’ desire to move through it quickly given the fact that the deck is stacked against Abel and he does not have much chance of winning. But given the monumentality of the case, I would have spent a little more time on it. For example, the film barely depicts the trial, and then jumps right from the trial court decision to the Supreme Court decision without even addressing the Second Circuit’s decision. (In the Supreme Court scene, not a single justice interrupts Donovan as he gives an impassioned speech, as was more typical back then; it is basically Justice Thomas’s fantasy.)
Given how quickly the film progressed through Abel’s court case, it was a little startling to also spend time on Powers’s training to fly the U-2 planes. The film really needed only one scene of exposition setting up the U-2 planes. But the film includes unnecessary scenes establishing Powers as a character and others in which his superior Williams (Michael Gaston) explain every facet of the U-2.
The film’s uneven pacing is underscored by the fact that Alda and Jesse Plemons (who plays Powers’s friend and fellow U-2 pilot) are only in the film for a few scenes apiece. Given that actors of their stature would probably not sign up for such small roles, I wonder how much was left on the cutting room floor.
I do not really blame screenwriter Matt Charman for these pacing problems (Joel and Ethan Coen – who were credited as co-screenwriters – reportedly did a touchup). There is just too much to tell in one film. I think the story would have been better served by being a miniseries instead of a movie, which would have been able to provide insight into Donovan’s decision to take the case, flesh out the relationship between Abel and Donovan, and cover more of the court case, while still depicting the best scenes in the film – Donovan’s negotiation in East Berlin.
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As opposed to the rushed first half of the film, the East Berlin scenes are much stronger. Visually, Spielberg does great work, depicting the crumbling city just as the Berlin Wall was being completed. Spielberg makes great use of color, draping these scenes in drab greys and blues to underscore the grimness of East Berlin at the time. Moreover, the scenes in East Berlin – as Donovan plays the Soviets and the East Germans off each other – have a pep to them that is missing in the beginning of the film.
I really do not have much to say about Hanks’s performance except that it was fine and nothing special. The standout of the film is Rylance, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Rylance is pitch-perfect, communicating Abel’s belief in his mission without ever raising his voice or having a traditionally “showy” scene that the Academy usually loves (e.g., crying or yelling).
While it has its strong spots, Bridge of Spies is not a prominent addition to the Spielberg oeuvre. The fact that this average-to-good film was nominated for Best Picture has now made me even more angry at the snubs of Creed and Ex Machina.
Earlier: Standard Of Review: In ‘Spotlight,’ Lawyers Help The Fourth Estate Investigate The First Estate
Bridge Of Spies: A Must-See Legal Thriller
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Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.
