Bridge of Spies (2015)

☆ ☆ ½

Bridge of Spies (2015) – S. Spielberg

My unlove for Tom Hanks continues and my view that the best term to describe Spielberg is “heavy-handed” is again supported.  I’m not quite sure whether the movie is so dull despite everyone’s best intentions or because they were aiming for middlebrow safe entertainment using familiar schemas that had been successful in the past.  Probably the latter although maybe Hanks just can’t help himself trying hard to be liked/admired.  That’s not to say that the history lesson being taught here isn’t interesting – the exchange of spies between the US and the USSR (including Francis Gary Powers the downed U-2 pilot) is a fascinating part of our political history and there is a lot of backstory that I didn’t know.  But you can’t escape that feeling that Spielberg and Hanks are still cheerleading for the greatest generation rather than keeping their eye on the story.  So, it drags and the team tries too hard to push some emotional buttons.