A sturdy, appealingly old-fashioned drama that is also a little dull in certain spots.
What Works: Tom Hanks fits the material perfectly as an American insurance lawyer in over his head after getting swept up in Cold War intrigue. He has to defend a Russian master spy, and then later negotiate his exchange at a time when most Americans would rather see a Russian spy tar-and-feathered than receive an adequate defense.
The first half is solid, but a little lifeless, although things pick up dramatically when the movie goes to divided, Cold War-era Berlin. Going into the Kafkaesque East Berlin is a down-the-rabbit experience that elevates the movie from “okay” to “good.”
What Doesn’t: I love seeing noted stage actor Mark Rylance getting sizeable film work (he was also good in the BBC’s adaptation of “Wolf Hall”), but he’s a little too mannered here. Plus, the overly-cozy way the spy is written struck me as a little fuzzy. A good spy character is supposed to be slippery, but we never really get a read on this one.
Also, and it must be said, that I noticed a few people dozing off before the end credits.
What I Would Have Done Differently: There is a solid plane-crash sequence about a third of the way throughout that jolts you awake, and the movie might have benefitted from a couple more sequences like this one. It’s also a film that’s most successful when dealing with spy intrigues–like the conflicting agendas of the Soviet Union and their East German allies–so it might have helped to at least get a sense of why this one Russian spy was such a master or what he knew. Besides the opening scene, we never really see him manipulate anything or even come off as all that observant.
All in all, this would be a great movie to watch at home with popcorn or even hot chocolate during the end of Winter. It has a nostalgic glaze that would be just right for comfortable home viewing.