February DVD Releases: Spectre, Bridge of Spies
Posted on January 30, 2016 by bob in DVD
Spectre (PG-13) 
For those keeping score at home, this is the 24th James Bond movie, and Daniel Craig’s fourth turn in the role. Charles Dickens would likely describe this entry in the fabled franchise as the best of times and worst of times. Many action sequences, locations, gadgets and lines of dialogue live up to expectations. But much of the rest is hugely disappointing. The plot meanders among too many settings and subplots. Lea Seydoux is so bland as the “Bond Girl” du jour, it’s hard to believe she was among the first choices for the role. There just isn’t enough payoff to justify 148 minutes of running time, even for fans who’ve continued to be shaken or stirred since Sean Connery’s 1962 debut as Agent 007 in Dr. No.
Perhaps the film’s title telegraphs the problems to come. SPECTRE appeared early and repeatedly in the series as an acronym for a global cabal of megavillains. So how did this nemesis get demoted to lower-case letters for its revival? Monica Belluci and Christoph Waitz are under-utilized, compared to the unique sets of skills each could bring to any table.
The film hits the ground running with a spectacular action sequence in Mexico City during Day of the Dead festivities. That should rank among the best of those pre-credits displays. Alas, it just makes much of the rest seem less satisfying. The easy conquests of swooning hotties in the first couple of decades has been yielding to more contemporary (i.e. – less sexist) relations between Bond and the babes he meets. This one turns the sociological clock back in a couple of awkwardly anachronistic misfit moments. Much of the pre-release ink has been about record-setting production costs. Unfortunately, there’s more money than merit in the film they’ve crafted this time around.
Contracts are in place for Craig’s fifth appearance in the 25th Bond opus. They’re likely massive documents. Let’s hope they put at least as much effort into the screenplay.
Bridge of Spies (PG-13)
Whenever Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks collaborate, expectations run high in the wake of Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me if You Can and The Terminal. This fact-based Cold War thriller meets or exceeds them. Hanks plays a civil lawyer, reluctantly recruited to defend accused Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) at the height of nuclear tensions and mutual paranoia – a/k/a the late 1950s. Hanks’ character is vilified for merely doing what his professional oath requires – even within the system by those trained to know better. He develops a grudging respect for his client’s principles, despite his unfortunate career choices.
When one of our spy pilots, Francis Gary Powers, is shot down while filming Russia from above, Abel becomes a useful commodity as trade bait for our guy. Due to all sorts of geopolitical complexities among the US, USSR and East Germany, Hanks even more reluctantly becomes our negotiator for the swap, requiring a risky series of visits behind the newly-erected Berlin Wall that seem far beyond his, or anyone’s, pay grade in such volatile times.
Those who recall the news accounts of that episode, or studied it afterwards, will find a masterfully written and directed perspective on those events and its principals. We’re not only shown facts surrounding this major international story, but the full array of emotional and political ripples it caused at all levels of society, here and abroad. Even knowing the prisoner exchange occurred does little to diminish the dramatic tension regarding Hanks and certain other elements within this version of whatever the full truth may have been.
Hanks is Oscarworthy (again). So is Rylance, a relative unknown to American moviegoers, who may be this year’s Christoph Waltz among Supporting Actors, with a wry, understated, yet eloquent performance reminiscent of Waltz’ contributions to Inglourious Basterds. The screenplay by the Coen brothers and Matt Charman should also get some nods, finely balancing historical context with character development, suspense and just the right amount of comic relief.
Mark Glass
Mark Glass is an officer and director of the St. Louis Film Critics Association.
