Spy Game (2001)

Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Stephen Dillane, Catherine McCormack, Larry Bryggman, David Hemmings, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Andrew Grainger, Todd Boyce, Michael Paul Chan, Garrick Hagon, Matthew Marsh, Ken Leung, Hamidou Benmessaoud. [R]

Grim but frenetic CIA hijinks positioned as serious-minded escapist fare, but despite the title containing the word “game,” it’s not an especially fun or engaging experience sorting through all the clutter of the trade craft. Soon-to-be-retired intelligence officer Redford learns that a former protégé of his (Pitt) has been captured by the Chinese and is set to be executed within 24 hours, so while his bosses and colleagues grill him over what he knows about the asset, he maneuvers around them to try and save the man’s life. A sizable portion of the story is told through flashback, from when Redford and Pitt first met and through the training process, Pitt’s rote romance with expatriate relief worker McCormack, and the eventual dissolution of the two men’s professional relationship. Scott’s hollow and joyless stylistic diversions aren’t as rampant as they tended to be at this point in his career, but they’re still distracting, and rather than provide an urgent jolt to the proceedings, they mostly just obfuscate clarity and cheapen the already limited character interest—an old pro like Redford can do plenty with just the scantest of ingredients, but in part because of the elusive dynamic of their profession, and in part because of thin scripting by David Arata and Michael Frost Beckner, this undernourished crew has all the depth of chess pieces. Charlotte Rampling has a small part.

50/100