Spy Game (2001) Reviews

Well, to be honest, I always had some mixed feelings about this movie. Indeed, on one hand, it was a rather well made and entertaining spy flick, no doubt about it, but, on the other hand, since it was a flick starring two Hollywood giants, shouldn't it have been better than this?!? The first issue was that the movie never seemed to be able to choose who was in fact the main character. It is obvious that studio wanted to put the focus on Brad Pitt since he was the bigger star but, eventually, you never really get to know his character and most of the really exciting stuff was actually done by Redford. Basically, even though Redford's character keeps telling you that Pitt's character was a top spy, you never see the guy doing anything really amazing (except maybe his first op in Vietnam). In fact, he even falls in love with an asset, tells her his real name, goes rogue to save her and eventually even get caught. Well, that wasn't really some stellar spy work, I'm sorry. Then, finally, the old gimmick of having all the action taking place during Muir's last day in Langley was rather weak and, the end, when you see how he managed to take all these actions within a few hours, was rather ridiculous. Anyway, to conclude, even though it had the potential to be a fine spy action flick, they actually messed it up but, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look.