Spy Game (2001)

Director:

Tony Scott

Writers (WGA):

Michael Frost Beckner (story)
Michael Frost Beckner (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 November 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

It's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you.

Plot:

Retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom Bishop while working against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors.

Plot Keywords:

CIA | China | Retirement | Prison | Rescue

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Nathan D. Muir
Brad Pitt	...	Tom Bishop
Catherine McCormack	...	Elizabeth Hadley
Stephen Dillane	...	Charles Harker
Larry Bryggman	...	Troy Folger
Marianne Jean-Baptiste	...	Gladys Jennip
Matthew Marsh	...	Dr. William Byars
Todd Boyce	...	Robert Aiken
Michael Paul Chan	...	Vincent Vy Ngo
Garrick Hagon	...	CIA Director Cy Wilson
Andrew Grainger	...	Andrew Unger
Bill Buell	...	Fred Kappler
Colin Stinton	...	Henry Pollard
Ted Maynard	...	CIA Administrator
Tom Hodgkins	...	CIA Lobby Guard

Also Known As:

Spy Game - Der finale Countdown (Germany)
Spy game - Jeu d'espions (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

126 min | Turkey:114 min (TV version)

Country:

Germany | USA | Japan | France

Language:

English | German | Arabic | French | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:12 | USA:R (certificate #38577) | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Beirut, Lebanon

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The building identified as the US Embassy in Hong Kong is actually the headquarters of HSBC - the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Goofs:

Continuity: Tom Bishop's hair is streaked with gray in the beginning of the film, when he is infiltrating Su Chou Prison. During the brief flashes of interrogation scenes throughout the movie, his hair is black. During the final rescue scene, his hair has streaks of gray in it again.

Quotes:

Anna Cathcart: The Scotch is older than she is...
Nathan Muir: Am I supposed to feel bad about that?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Das Kommando (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Bad News

Smilie's Game: Spy the Image

Tony delivers something I would have expected from brother Ridley -- a set of images about images:

--the photographic and editing style is one of successive photographs often shifted/zoomed with the shutter click; some black and whites, many color deprived.

--the hero's cover story is as a photo journalist and his photos are shown the same as the CIA's, Redford's recollections, and the 'narrator's.'

--The agency is primarily about images in real life, images and action and that's self-referentially played up here. Scott uses a style of zooming in and out by jump cuts that he developed on his last film -- also about images and the intelligence community. Lots of cameras and binoculars here.

--the dramatic action is global, involving several hotspots with lots of action. When viewing that action, the cameras are hand-held. When watching the calm, controlling scenes at headquarters, we see them more statically as they are being videotaped, often spying through blinds. (Spy = see.) Often the images have digital tags.

--Some of the field scenes with Redford and Pitt are shot as though from a spy plane (as in that swooping, sweeping shot on a roof) or if interior as seen through a hole.

--Lots of helicopter shots, and lots of helicopters. It seems every combination was employed among the following: ground, interior of heli, interior of second heli, front of heli, heli POV, above heli. This by itself is self-referential when you notice how many of the 'ordinary' shots are from helis.

There is also a clever self-reference in the casting. Pitt was hailed as the 'new Redford' when he appeared in 'Thelma and Louise,' by brother Ridley. Then in 'River Runs' he was directed by Redford, in a Redfordlike role, underscoring the relationship. Here, he also is mentored, but in my opinion outacts Redford at every turn. I believe Scott intended to use Redford's limits as a tired actor to the advantage of this reference. Pitt has been working hard in relatively minor but challenging roles and the results show.

The only real complaints are the clumsy plot mechanics: the last day before retirement -- a clear 24 hour to doom clock -- a wily and complete outwitting of the pencilnecks -- all the CIA analysts and technicians as outwittable dimmies -- a senior character says 'get everything we have on so and so' and 10 seconds later a secretary appears with the files in multiple copies -- a helicopter is shot down: it disappears behind the trees and then we see a fireball. Fortunately we gloss over all that stuff. Couldn't in 'Enemy of the State.'