FFCC members on ‘Bridge of Spies’
FFCC provide their takes on Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ fourth collaboration, the Cold War drama Bridge of Spies.
Allison Hazlett, FlickDirect
“For children of the 50’s, Bridge of Spies will be a nostalgic look back at a time when the world was a very different place. For those of us from younger generations, it will be an interesting view of world events from when communism overran half of Germany.”
Dan Hudak, Punch Drunk Movies
“If this film were released during the Cold War, Jim would without a doubt be the villain and dubbed a “Red.” Because it’s released roughly 25 years after the Cold War, Jim comes across as a lone bastion of justice facing the harsh invectives of protesters and naysayers paranoid by the Red Scare.”
Reuben Pereira, Film Frontier
“Bridge of Spies is Spielberg back in the “serious” mode that served him well on pictures like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Munich. Like Lincoln, this is a deliberately understated drama in which the action is confined to conversations between middle aged men in dark and chilly rooms. Words, not bullets are what keeps the drama brewing.”
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times
“Bridge of Spies is solid work but feels like Spielberg’s best intentions as a filmmaker and world conscience on cruise control. The movie is polished and period perfect thanks to longtime collaborators like Janusz Kaminski, whose camera cloaks the Berlin Wall sequences in gripping shadows and grays. The director’s Diogenes spirit remains intact, seeking honest men in dark times.”
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
“Bridge of Spies has been described as a minor work from a major filmmaker, but the film is too personal to dismiss as a curiosity, and its overall theme blends right in with many of Spielberg’s previous pictures.”
Alfred Soto, Humanizing the Vacuum
“Drawing an equivalence between the way in which Cold War jingoism captured American and Soviet justice systems is as facile as making Americans the heroes. Bridge of Spies does both, which, I’ll admit, is some kind of achievement.”
