 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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Spy Game
- Review Date: May 8, 2003
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2001
Common Sense Media says
A smart thriller for grown-ups.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has very strong language and a lot of violence, including a brutal beating. Viewers see the victims of violence, including amputees and dead bodies. There's a mild and inexplicit sexual situation.
What's the story?
SPY GAME begins in 1991 with a failed rescue attempt at a Chinese prison. Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) is awakened on his last day working for the CIA by a phone call from Hong Kong. An agent has been captured. We learn through a series of flashbacks that the agent, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) was recruited and trained by Muir. Their relationship is chronicled through the world's trouble spots from Viet Nam to Beirut, as they go from teacher/student to partners and then wind up at odds with each other. Bishop likes being one of the good guys. He likes to keep his promises. He is willing to bend rules, but only if he has to. Nathan is not sure he knows what the rules are anymore, beyond the one he tells Tom is unbreakable – save your money so that you can retire someplace warm and never spend any of it to protect an asset. The CIA has 24 hours before Bishop is executed. Muir spends much of that time in a taped and transcribed meeting with top officials who are more concerned about maintaining trade negotiations with China than with rescuing a spy who does not seem to have been on any authorized mission. The rest of the time, he uses everything he has accumulated in his career – his experiences, his relationships, his tricks of the trade, and even his money – to rescue Bishop.
Is it any good?
This is not one of those movies where the spies wear elegant dinner jackets, drink martinis, use cool gadgets and have sex with gorgeous women in between huge explosions and shoot-outs. There is no hidden fortress, secret formula, or missing computer chip. Instead, it is a smart thriller for grown-ups about spies who manipulate their "assets" (sources) with brains, not explosives. And it is about loyalty, politics, and whether the ends ever justify the means.
Redford and Pitt (who worked together on A River Runs Through It) are both marvelous, their different acting styles working well to help them portray the differences in their characters. Director Tony Scott (Top Gun and Crimson Tide) shows his usual expert touch in action stories about men who have to think quickly while they struggle with problems of loyalty and independence. The scenes in Beirut are particularly unsettling and tragic.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how people develop rules when their work involves breaking traditional rules. How can you tell when you stop being one of the good guys? How do they know that the rules they are breaking are in aid of a greater good? Who was betrayed in the movie?
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AGE
Brilliantly Intelligent!
A smooth thriller. Tom Bishop a CIA Opperative is being held captive in a chineese prison. Now his old Boss who he was once close to fights to save his life.The head CIA men working on the case, are trying t find a reason to let him die, because the president is visiting Chia and doesn't want an uprising, and have the president in a dangerous situation. There are many flash backs which take up a vast majoritey of the movie, showg how brad pitt( Tom Bishop) and Robert Reddford(His boss) grew so close. At the edn Robert Reddford does a genrous thing which causes him nearly everything to his oldyoung partner who he trained who left him for a new opp. The eding is incredible and the acting better than any other movie ever made. Nominated for 5 academy wards!
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AGE
Good - But Hard To Understand
This is a light R. There are a few "F" words but fewer than usual R rated movies. Although violence is an ever-present topic (man is going to be executed in a prison), it is not shown graphicly. Yes, there are dead bodies and victims shown, but it is brief and not explicit. Sexual content is at a minimum. Brad Pitt is seen in bed with a woman. That's it. There is drinking and smoking (smoking is used as a clever tool for a CIA agent [watch the movie and you will know what I mean]). In one scene, one man is acting to be drunk for a disguise. Other than that, there is no substance abuse. I would reccomend this movie to older teenagers (19+) just because the plot is hard to understand. Content-wise, 13+.
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AGE
weird!!!
What to watch out for
*
Violence:
Tense scenes, including bloody torture.
*
Sex:
Sexual situations, nothing explicit or exploitive.
*
Language:
Some strong language.
*
Consumerism:
Not an issue.
*
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Drinking and smoking.
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| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | Tony Scott |
| Cast: | Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Robert Redford |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 126 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 21, 2001 |
| DVD release date: | April 9, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language, some violence and brief sexuality |
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