‘Bridge of Spies’ is Spielberg’s best in years

Bridge of Spies casts Tom Hanks as attorney James Donovan. In 1957, he defended Soviet Union spy Rudolph Abel and took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Donovan’s capable defense kept Abel from the death penalty. Eventually, Donovan and Abel became central cogs in the release of U.S. CIA spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 crashed in the Soviet Union in 1960.

This is the first great movie Steven Spielberg has done since Saving Private Ryan. You can make a case that The Adventures of Tin Tin falls in the great category, but it’s not in the same class as Ryan or other Spielberg efforts.

It’s also Spielberg’s first film since Lincoln three years ago. Other than Daniel Day-Lewis’ winning performance, it was so-so. While no Spielberg project is sub-par by any measure, and to continue my argument, by his own standards, much of what the famed director has done in the past decade has been good but not great.

There are five reasons why Bridge of Spies is one of the year’s best movies and the best thing Spielberg has done in more than a decade. The first is Spielberg’s incredible ability to tell a story. No one is better. Second is the writing. Newcomer Matt Charman and Ethan and Joel Coen wrote the screenplay. The Coens explain the terrific humor in a most serious subject.

Third — and best of all — the performances. Tom Hanks is always good, but he’s Tom Hanks and it’s expected. Unexpected is the Oscar-worthy supporting actor work of Mark Rylance, who plays Abel. Rylance, who is an award-winning stage actor, is stone-faced funny and tosses off killer one-liners that add cement to this incredible story.

Fourth, Spielberg and his writers work in the danger of the violation of the rights of the accused, and no matter what the crime, those rights ought not be ignored. And unlike most Spielberg projects, he’s not preachy about this aspect of his film. It’s straight forward and speaks for itself.

It also doesn’t hurt that always believable everyman Hanks is the one doing most of the dialogue on this issue.

Last, Bridge of Spies tells Donovan’s part of the story of the swap for Francis Gary Powers that few know, and then gives you a bit of history on his life after the swap. All these elements combine to make this October’s first not-to-be-missed movie and a shoo-in for awards.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 6:06 AM with the headline "‘Bridge of Spies’ is Spielberg’s best in years."