Spy Game (2001)

"...makes the sport and hard work of espionage seem chillingly real.  Washington Post
"Gripping!  Newsweek
"Heart Pounding!   Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"A satisfying and entertaining spy movie.  Eric D. Snider, Daily Herald
"Outstanding!  Chicago Sun-Times
"Heart-pounding!  Joel Siegel, Good Morning Amewrica

Editor's Note Robert Redford stars as veteran CIA agent Nathan Muir in this thriller from Tony Scott (TOP GUN, ENEMY OF THE STATE). Set in 1991, Muir expects his last day before retirement to be an easy one. Instead, he finds that his protégé, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), is being held on espionage charges in a Chinese prison will be executed in 24 hours. A seasoned agent, Muir has played spy games for a long time and quickly realizes that the CIA may not be acting in Bishop's best interest. Even as an agency committee is grilling Muir, he is secretly working to secure his former charge's freedom. Action-packed flashbacks establish the relationship between the two men: their first meeting during the Vietnam War, Muir's recruitment of Bishop following the war, Bishop's training and early missions in Berlin, and an important operation in Beirut. Similarly, the flashbacks trace the evolution of Bishop from an eager, brand-new agent in 1975 to a disillusioned veteran in the mid-1980s who is at odds with his mentor, Muir. This last layer of conflict adds extra suspense to SPY GAME, as Muir must decide whether to help his old friend or take the easy way out.

	Larry Bryggman
	Marianne Jean-Baptiste
	Robert Redford
	Stephen Dillane
	Brad Pitt
	Catherine McCormack
	Tony Scott - Director
	Daniel Mindel - Director of Photography
	Christian Wagner - Editor
	Harry Gregson-Williams - Musical Score
	Marc Abraham, et al. - Producer
	Norris Spencer - Production Designer
	David Arata - Screenplay
	Michael Frost Beckner - Screenplay
	Michael Frost Beckner - Story By

Entertainment Weekly
"...The film is brimming with plots, counterplot, dossiers, and sinister corrupt priorities....A stylishly moody and jacked-up cloak-and-dagger adventure..." 11/30/2001 p.55-6

New York Times
"...Mr. Scott has an eye for sharp images and cool stuff....SPY GAME is seamlessly and crisply edited..." 11/21/2001 p.E1

Variety
"...[SPY GAME] produces Robert Redford's most engaging performance in years..." 11/19/2001 p.39-44

Sight and Sound
"...Viewers may be justifiably dazzled by the film's grand tour of exotic locations....Surely for most filmgoers the appeal of SPY GAME will lie in the Redford-Pitt pairing. Both look smashing..." 02/01/2002 p.61-2

Chicago Sun-Times
"...[A] tautly written, beautifully executed thriller....SPY GAME hinges on the perfect symmetry of Redford and Pitt....It's a thrill to watch here..." 11/21/2001 p.46

San Francisco Examiner 9 of 10
The action begins early...in Tony Scott's terrifically entertaining Spy Game, and the rest of the movie maintains the brisk pace in what feels like an unbroken, brilliantly sustained rush of turbo-charged excitement... Redford gives his most appealing and multifaceted performance in ages... - Joe Leydon

Washington Post 8 of 10
...a taut, timely and intelligent thriller with cloak-and-swaggering performances from Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.. The movie is sleek and shiny as a new bullet, reflecting [the directors] patented surplus of style, but in this case that only enhances a stirring drama about the moral ambiguities native to intelligence-gathering. - Rita Kempley