Rating: 
Summary: For Fans of Brad Pitt
Review: I was drug in by a couple of friends and boredom. This movie is definitely for fans of Pitt or perhaps fans of Redford. I suppose I was looking for a little more intrigue: something like Behind Enemy Lines meets Mission Impossible. It didn't happen.The flashbacks were a little disjointed and seemed to make the movie drag a little bit. I guess it was supposed to develop a kind of dad/son thing; it didn't really win me over. I liked the previous work of Pitt/Redford in a River Runs Through It -- although that picture had some extraneous and slow moving sections too. Like I said, Brad Pitt fans will see it just for the skin and actor charm, but viewers looking for a well crafted movie ought to keep looking.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb movie!
Review: I never did enjoy any of Brad Pitt's movies except the one time of Legends of the Fall, but this movie was really worth watching. Robert Redford's excellent performance as Nathan Muir a CIA agent only a day away from his retirement has to come to questioning about his protege Tom Bishop, who has been captured by the Chinese government for espionage. During the questioning Nathan can't get any answers out of his superiors and fears that Tom will be executed in 24 hours if Nathan doesn't do something to save him. Wonderful acting, terrific storyline and great action!
Only one problem with the movie: The timeline doesn't make sense in any way. When Muir is telling the story of Bishop and how the two met it starts from the early 70's. So if Muir is telling a story from a time that dated from 2001 it's 30 years ago, Bishop was a young man in the early 70's when he was recruited. So in 2001 it would make him somewhere in his late 40's or early 50's and Brad Pitt did NOT look 50 in any way!!! Strange.
Rating:
Summary: "Spy Game" is fast-paced, thrilling, and thought-provoking!!
Review: "Spy Game" is just like any other espionage film that you have seen, but better! The film has two of the most dynamic stars that you'll ever see on the big screen...Robert Redford and Brad Pitt! And the fast-paced direction of Tony Scott ("Enemy of the State", "Crimson Tide") just couldn't be better! "Spy Game" calls the attention to Nathan Muir (Redford), a veteran CIA operative who has reached the very last day of his 30 year career in the CIA and is looking forward to retirement. But all of that has been put on hold when he learns that his protege Tom Bishop (Pitt) has been captured by the Chinese and is being held for espionage. But that is not the worst of it...because Bishop is also being sentenced to death as well! So, Muir has 24 hours to try to find a way to rescue both Bishop and his love interest (Catherine McCormack) before Bishop is executed. "Spy Game" is nothing more than a thinking person's movie with action, suspense, an excellent storyline, and a great supporting cast as well. This is Robert Redford's best suspenseful role since "Three Days of the Condor", Brad Pitt's best since "The Devil's Own", and Tony Scott's best directing since the always great "Enemy of the State". Even though this is the year 2002, "Spy Game", to me, is one of the 10 best films of 2001!
Rating:
Summary: Spy Game good
Review: I went into this movie with high expectations and after seeing it found it to be a very fullfilling movie. Something that is hard to come by in movie land these days. The movie's style was very nice and I was pleased to find that the story had substance to back it up. One of my favorite things about the movie was how it allowd the audience to be "incahoots" with Robert Redford throughout most of the movie, thus allowing us to enjoy his savy mischeviousness. Even more enjoyable than that were the moments when even the audience didn't know what Redford was up to. Overall a great flick that I think I could watch a dozen times without getting bored.
Rating: 
Summary: stupid movie
Review: this is one of the stupidest movie i've ever seen recently. the whole story jump back and forth, severely disjointed, lots of things unexplained, unfinished, or simply nonsense. china in the story can be replaced by any other country in the world. the funny things: traditional chinese characters show up in the supposed mainland china scene (mainland china use the simplified chinese character); people speak cantonese instead of mandarin; the us consulate in hong kong is at the wrong place; etc. it's just like a movie showing americans using latin, speaking australian english, and the empire state building shown as afghanistan consulate :-)
Rating:
Summary: Troubled spooks
Review: Don't you hate loose ends? This film, although a good yarn and enjoyable to watch on different levels, ultimately left me frustrated with many unanswered questions. Essentially, this is a buddy movie and a play-the-system movie rolled into one. My one problem with this is that while I have nothing against buddy movies, the movie doesn't explain why a die-hard, wordly and cynical cia veteran would risk everything he has worked for over thirty years for a colleague who he has not worked with for five years and presumambly is on a rogue operation. The movie hints that Muir (Robert Redford) is motivated by his mentor role and perhaps also by the guilt over having put Brad Pitt's squeeze in the hands of the dastardly Chinese, who Pitt then tries to rescue. But Muir exhibits a hard nosed and calculating attitude in everything he does and says; so this new found altruism and self-sacrifice stretches my credulity and goodwill towards the movie. So the chief problem with this movie is that the protagonist's motivation and character development is just on the wrong side of hokey for me. So once you start thinking about this, it highlights other questions like how does Pitt organise such a tight springing team if he's a rogue? Where does he get the money for the power out? Why is only Pitt held in custody and not the entire operational team? Why do other people know of the operation and notify Muir immediately of Pitt's capture? As a system movie, it works enjoyably well. However, why would a CIA man who expects orders to be obeyed instantly, buck against the system that created him. Pitt was a rogue, he didn't have clearance. Aside from the ageing process and immminent retirement, what motivates Muir to get mushy brained now and want to save his (...)?
Garbled outbursts about economics vs. people don't cut the mustard for me, and made me wonder (paranoically) whether Muir was in fact a more cynical player than everyone! Don't get me wrong: the movie wasn't bad, and the actors performed well, but I feel that ultimately their characters were sloppily sacrificed at the very materialist altar Muir rails against, which let down the film making as a whole. Suspend disbelief? Yeah, sure I can do that. Suspend all brain activity? Not a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Not the usual retirement day party
Review: Because the actor appears so infrequently nowadays, the end of 2001 has delivered a relative flurry of Robert Redford films to the Big Screen - two, THE LAST CASTLE and SPY GAME. The latter was, for me, the most entertaining, though the former includes an Oscar-worthy supporting performance by James Gandolfini. In SPY GAME, Redford plays Nathan Muir, at the very end of a thirty-year career with the CIA. Before arriving at his Langley headquarters office on retirement day, he learns that a former protégé, Tom Bishop (played by Brad Pitt), has been imprisoned and condemned to death by the Red Chinese. Over the next 24 hours, Muir must race to save Bishop's life in the face of a high level CIA decision to sacrifice the incarcerated agent on the altar of the President's economic rapprochement with China. In the battle of wits with his weasely superiors, Muir must flashback for them (and the film's viewers) the history of his relationship with Bishop, which extends from 1975 Vietnam forward through Cold War Berlin and the war-torn Beirut of the mid 1980s. SPY GAME is flashy and extremely fast paced, the latter because of film editing which limits each continuous scene to no more than perhaps 15-20 seconds. It's far unlike one of my very favorite spy flicks of the past, THE RUSSIA HOUSE (1990), starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. In the latter, the emphasis is on plot evolution and character development - a slower paced, thinking man's film. However, the differences between the two don't reflect badly on SPY GAME. Redford is too fine an actor to be involved in anything substandard, and watching his Muir persona run circles around his Langley superiors is one of the movie's chief delights. (When was the last clunker Redford starred in?). Pitt does a creditable and credible job as the young military sniper (trained to shoot in the Boy Scouts!) first employed by agent controller Muir for an assassination in Laos, and then permanently recruited for the Agency by Muir soon after the US scuttled out of Southeast Asia. SPY GAME did have its hiccups. I was unreasonably annoyed that the "Berlin" sequences were actually filmed in Budapest, probably because Berlin is one of my favorite cities. Actress Catherine McCormack's relatively cold performance as Bishop's love obsession didn't really click for me, though she was my heartthrob of the moment in DANGEROUS BEAUTY (1997). And, it seemed a bit much of a stretch for the Chinese correctional officer to connect bubblegum with a prison break. On the other hand, the depiction of chaotic and violent Beirut (filmed in Morocco) was masterfully done. Overall, the director succeeded in producing an intelligent and engrossing holiday thriller. And it's so good to see Redford back. Thus, 4.5 stars, rounded for Amazon to 5.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining movie
Review: If you like taut thrillers with lots of action and excellent acting, this is the movie for you. Robert Redford plays a CIA agent who is spending his last day at work. His protege, played by Brad Pitt, has been thrown into a Chinese prison and is scheduled to be executed in 24-hours. Redford's challenge is to deal with both the Chinese and the CIA, who seem unwilling to save Pitt, while sitting in a conference room in Washington DC. His many years of working at the agency stand him in good stead as he jousts with enemies from all sides. The photography in the movie is stark and muted, which adds to the pace of the action. Flashbacks fill the viewer in on Pitt and Redford's history and give a picture as to why Redford is willing to go out on a limb for his friend. I highly recommend this film!
Rating: 
Summary: check your hat at the door
Review: I loved this movie. It was well written and wrought with action, and Muir (Redford) always seemed two steps ahead of those other CIA weasels. The only gripe I have pertains to Bishop's (Pitt's) San Diego Padres hat. He was wearing it in mid-80s Beiruit when that particular model didn't come out until the early 1990s. I know it's a pretty small and nitpicky detail, but you'd think the director would want to be accurate down to the most minute detail.
Rating:
Summary: Scott's brother has done it again!
Review: Although not always breathtaking to watch, Spy Game, starring Brad Pitt (yeah, that guy who some girls deem "mildly-attractive? and the mature-but-still-a-great-actor Robert Redford, will deliver rock-solid (but somewhat old-fashioned) entertainment in a theater near you beginning on December 21. As the title suggests, this movie is about the dangerous yet fascinating world of the spying community. Those who know nothing about authentic spying will inevitably walk out of theaters with a vivid picture of its ins-and-outs. From Enemy Of The State director Tony Scott, the younger brother of Ridley Scott (Gladiator's director), Spy Game's storyline unfolds gradually through frequent (yet easy-to-follow) flashbacks of key sequences, which depict the relationship of its three main characters--CIA maverick Nathan Muir (Redford), Tom Bishop (Pitt), his protég? who turns pro after discovering his latent talent for spying, and the latter's superficial love interest Elizabeth Hadley (Catharine McCormack). In this satisfying thriller/action flick, Bishop is initially shown infiltrating a high-security Chinese prison in an attempt to rescue "his girl?and jeopardizing himself in the process. Unless someone (the second-highest paid member of the cast maybe?) decides to take the initiative in saving Bishop, now a suspect of espionage, within the next 24 hours, he will die. From the fast paced filming that has become Tony's trademark, expect explosions (two really nice ones), exciting chase-sequences (several), excellent dialogue (excluding the eight f-bombs from Pitt), and Redford spouting wisecracks at his superiors (all-too-often). I gave Spy Game four stars out of five.
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