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Spy Game (Widescreen Edition)

Spy Game (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $12.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good spy flick with Redford and Pitt
Review: Spy Game is a good movie that benefits greatly from its two stars, Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Nathan Muir(Redford) is a CIA operative about to retire when he is tipped off that is past protege, Tom Bishop, has been captured by the Chinese and is going to be executed in 24 hours. The heads of the CIA ask Muir about Bishop's past to see if there is anything suspicious about his actions. Much of the movie is in flashback as Muir explains how he met and trained Bishop from the Vietnam War to Cold War Berlin to the Middle East. At the same time, Muir must try to find a way to save his friend from certain death. If nothing else, this is a worthwhile spy movie. Plenty of twists and turns as Muir tries to outwit his bosses about Bishop. This is by no means a great movie, but is still a worthwhile spy/thriller movie. I recommend a watch.

Robert Redford is very good as soon to retire CIA operative, Nathan Muir. He is very believable in the role. Brad Pitt is equally as good as CIA agent, Tom Bishop. The relationship between the two men makes this movie go as Muir teaches Bishop the tools and tricks of the trade. Spy Game also stars Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Larry Bryggman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Matthew Marsh. The DVD offers countless extras including commentaries from producers and director Tony Scott, deleted scenes, behind the scenes featurettes, production notes, an interactive script, and widescreen presentation. For an enjoyable espionage thriller with good performances by Redford and Pitt, check out Spy Game!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Boring ! Not really believable ! A mistake !
Review: If you do like movies with complicated plot, many flashback and a lot of dialog, Go For It ! My opinion : BORING ! Is there a mistake or what ?! The action starts in 91, Redford talks about his first meeting with Pitt through a flashback, in Vietnam in 75. They look exactly the same in 75 and 91.Not believable at all.They should have used younger actors or at the least, choose someone else than Brad Pitt, too young for the role.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 24 precursor??
Review: If you enjoy the television series, 24, you
won't be able to help noticing the many
similarities they share, mostly in terms
of the 24 hour-type countdown. No, the
pace and plot (both of which are great) are
not as white-knuckle as 24's is, but that
won't stop fans of the series from hunkering down
and really enjoying this flick. Not to be missed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who's spying on who? Operation Dinner is a go
Review: Redford still has it and Pitt has it too, baby! Uh huh. That's right, my two boys both together in a movie. I've died and gone to heaven! This is a terrific tale full of surprises and intrigue. Well worth the time. A classic to be sure. Both men deliver solid performances and the film is sleek, smart, and easy to watch. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pitt and Redford make a great team
Review: begins well and ends satisfying. I liked the basics of this movie. Redford brings Pitt into his world and trains him and then Pitt meets a women and falls in love with her and the woman is played great by the lovely Catherine McCormack(The Tailor Of Panama, Shadow Of The Vampire). lots of helicopter shots as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: good movie
Review: i had to write this for one reason, it seems spy game is not getting its just reward. it has been a long time since hollywood made a decent suspense filled movie without explicit gore or nudity. in fact this movie, quit reminds me of older and by far better movies of hollywoods good days. today most movies are just pure [junk]. i expected not to like this movie at all and left this movie with a feeling of satisfaction. and even though it was not a comedy i found myself to be very amused by redfords ways. always a step ahead.this movie is worth owning

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you.
Review: Actually, I would be more inclined to give this movie 3½ stars, as it was good, but had some minor flaws.

Robert Redford plays Nathan Muir, a retiring CIA agent, who is called to recount his experiences with Tom Bishop, played by Brad Pitt. Seems Pitt has gotten into some trouble with the Chinese government, and now the CIA is trying to justify their actions in not trying to rescue Bishop by picking Muirs' brain, looking for anything they can use against Bishop. Muir, who recruited and trained Bishop, recounts missions with Bishop, while working surreptitiously against the agency for a more favorable outcome to the situation.

The movie, which takes place in 1991, goes through a number of flashbacks, starting from 1975 Vietnam, to the 80's in Beirut, to the present, 1991, equalling a span of 16 years. It was odd to see how little the characters changed physically. I mean, they both looked the same in 1975 as they did in 1991 with the exception of different haircuts. I had a hard time placing Brad Pitt in Vietnam, but whatever. Once you accept this, and focus on the story, it becomes more enjoyable. The development of the friendship between Bishop and Muir seems a little on the light side, especially based on the importance this relationship plays at the end of the movie. Also, some of the more techno music seemed out of place, or maybe it was the frequency in which it was used, and I have heard some people say that this movie needed more action, but I would disagree. I found the inner workings of the CIA to be fascinating, especially when Muir was going behind his peer's backs to get the information he needed. It was really interesting to see him use little tricks of the trade and such to maneuver around, between, over, and under his peers and always stay two steps ahead. And Redford played this aspect of his role so naturally, you honestly believed he was someone who spent years honing these skills.

While I think Brad Pitt did alright in his role as Bishop, the real reason to watch this movie is to see Robert Redford in action. He's truly a master of his craft, and he doesn't let down here. The story is a little weak, and the ending is a cop out, but Redford brings this movie up from a mediocre thriller to one that's worth renting, at the very least.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a Memorable Movie but Quiet Interesting
Review: I wasn't satisfied with Spy Game, but it is one of the realistic spy movies out there in years. It is an average movie that can be forgotten fastly and not one of the memorable movies out there. I say, give it a try and never judge a book by it's cover! It's a So So movie and needs thinking while the story goes on. I liked the movie but not much, and the movie is longer than what it should be, the plot is streched more than average. The Video is great, the sound is SPECTACULAR with the DTS sound, but there is a little problem with the subtitle switching it on, it won't switch on at all, I don't know why but other people I know or other reviews that I have read, it was the opposite where the subtitle won't switch off instead of my problem which is ON!!!
UNIVERSAL >> Fix the Problem please...Thanks

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Spy Game" has plenty of suspense and espionage.
Review: The liaison formed between a [confidant/arbitrator] like Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) who's co-opting as a special-agent w/the CIA and his colleague [protege] Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) are sent-out on the trevails of a top-secret mission to infiltrate a Chinese Prison (circa. 1970's, around the Vietnam War era.) "Spy Game" has plenty of suspense and espionage. While Tom risks his life - to boldy go where none of us would want to be right now - he bravely takes things into his own hands, by spying on the Communist-Regime of China (to find-out if they have nucular-weapons or WMD. Just kidding. LOL!); to eventually winding-up in a prison-cell, enduring the unrelenting-torture at the merciless-hands of the prison guards. Meanwhile, Nate who has a knack to arbitrarily work with the CIA (and the Chinese Government) on setting his colleauge free from the bondage of being in a prison - with deplorable conditions; turns-out to be the real-hero of the movie. On a lighter-note, Tom and Nate are the kind of guys who likes to go bar-hopping: There's a scene in the movie in which Tom and Nate are sitting-down at a a bar where Tom orders the cheapest scotch for Nate. (Nate has to have his scotch, or he gets pretty cranky without it.) Funny huh?

The gut-wrenching action-sequences in the movie, are a bunch of segways: With Tom getting inoculated with some meds by the prison guards, rendering him unable to move or get around thereby making him fall-into a deep-slumber. When he's awakend by the dire-circumstances he finds himself in, he all of a sudden bolts for a quick getaway in a Chinese Ambulance by altering his appearance, to "blend-in" with the rest of the prison workers. Little do they know, that Tom's "one-step ahead" of getting-out of that place alive, with the assistance of Nate. The Chinese, unaware of their ulterior-motives, with the bizarre turn-of-events which have transpired throughout this movie, is an epic-thriller of sorts. When Nate was told what he was going to do with his money, in his last-days working for the CIA, Tom had said - somwhere along the lines of: "Why don't you use the money for a retirement home in the Carribean?" He had the ambitious-goal in life of doing just that with it. But instead used the [$288,000] to bail Tom out of prison. Talk about sacrifice: I was so impressed by his remarkable decision of his willingness to lend a helping-hand to someone in need, to relinquish his dreams of owning a house with a prestigious address. This movie is so awesome! This film has a lot of redeeming qualities about it. I've really come to admire the work Robert Redford does for the film-industry: with such great films as "Sneakers", "A River Runs Through It" (which is what catapulted Brad Pitt to success as an actor, becoming an "A-List" celebrity, with his well-deserved accolades in the film), and "The Horse Whisperer." "Spy Game" is rated [R] for: Language, Gore, and Violence. Not recommeded for youngsters or sensitive-viewers.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One of Scott's better films.
Review: Spy Game (Tony Scott, 2001)

Tony Scott has had one of the simply weirdest careers in Hollywood. How a person could switch back and forth between making atmospheric, sexy thrillers (The Hunger, Beat the Devil, and I have the highest hopes for the upcoming Emma's War) to making intelligent action-suspense drama (Revenge, Enemy of the State, I have even higher hopes for his upcoming remake of Man on Fire) to putting out some of Hollywood's shallowest piles of reeking, unbearable crap (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, 48 Hours II) is beyond me. But he hits the mark enough to keep me coming back to see what he's going to do with any given movie.

Spy Game, thankfully, falls into the "intelligent" section rather than the "reeking" section. (One wonders if this has to do with Scott finally throwing over Tom Cruise and wooing Brad Pitt as his eye candy.) It was also entirely different than I expected it to be from the previews, usually a good thing.

Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) is on his last day with the CIA. He gets a tip from a friend in Hong Kong before going to work that one of his ex-operatives, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), has been arrested in China. For what, no one seems to know. Or so they say. As soon as he gets to work, he's pulled into a meeting about Bishop, China, and a whole lot of other things that make him wonder what's going on.

All this, however, is a framework for Redford to sit in the meeting and spin tales, both to everyone else there and in his mind, going back over his ten-year relationship with Bishop, from the time they met in Vietnam to their last work together in Beirut, where the two of them split over Bishop meeting and falling in love with a woman (Catherine McCormack [Dancing at Lughnasa/Shadow of the Vampire]). It also offers us a look into Muir's conscience, as he, who has always counseled Bishop that once someone's caught, they should be left to hang, decides whether or not he's going to try and find a way to help Bishop out of the mess.

Well-crafted, well-executed, but a bit jarring in places. One assumes a directors' cut would probably help with the continuity, as it does with so many films. What finally got released, though, is certainly worth a rental. A good way to pass two hours. ***


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