On S List of Movie Reviews

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Spy Game (2001)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 8/23

SpyG
8/23: Spy Game asks too much from me.

The more complicated the plot is, the less I care. My tune would've been different if it was based on real events like All the President's Men. Hence, I can see why Robert Redford picked this project because he needed something that's intellectually stimulating. Sadly, I hate his character because of his direct coldness.

So...Brad Pitt's character did it for his girlfriend? But they made no connection whatsoever. It's very shallow stuff. According to IMDb, "Tony Scott wanted to add more of a love story between Bishop (Brad Pitt) and Elizabeth (Catherine McCormack), but he lost to the producers, who wanted the relationship to develop more off-screen." Ditto for the pairing of Robert Redford and Brad Pitt who only did the film for his co-star. Funnily enough, they never age at all, no matter how much time passes.

The film style is fine and typical of Tony Scott, but it's been done before in Enemy of the State. Highly capable and visionary in his own right, he can't be repeating the same formula when he should've moved on to something else. By the way, the Padres cap is wrong for the time as it's supposed to be brown with a yellow in the middle.

All in all, Spy Game doesn't work if it can't make me care about what's going on.