With “”Spy Game,”” you get two movies for the price of one, though only one works its way to a satisfactory conclusion. The first, and more substantial, of the two occurs through flashbacks, as CIA operative Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) lures U.S. military sharpshooter Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) from the frontlines of the war in Vietnam to serve the elusive government agency.
The second story, set in the present day, frames Muir and Bishop’s working relationship and gives us a reason to invest in said flashbacks. On Muir’s last day before retirement, he receives word that his prized protege, Bishop, has been arrested for espionage outside of Hong Kong. Muir knows the charges are false, but his efforts to uncover information are repeatedly blocked by internal red tape. To prevent his student’s execution, Muir must walk a tightrope of office politics and political hand-wrangling that revolves loosely around our government’s valuable trade relationships with China. By all accounts, the backstory told in the film’s flashbacks holds our interest longer than the talkative potboiler that outlines the plot. Pitt and Redford’s deliciously airtight interactions streamline these sequences, and director Tony Scott lends a distinctive visual texture that bleaches out the parched locales and properly roughs up the action. Redford and Pitt actually show us the torch being passed from veteran to protege, with so many “”teacher/student”” scenarios and age jokes made at the expense of the weathered leading man.Scott, known for his stark visual approach and dizzying camera motions, attempts to jumpstart the stagnant outer story by freezing frames and injecting a digital clock that counts down the hours until Bishop’s execution, in case you weren’t paying attention or, worse, just forgot what Muir was racing to prevent. Gimmicks like this, though, just can’t juice endless sequences of Redford juggling phone calls or racing through corridors so he can pour over a folder of important classified documents. “”Spy Game”” has the makings of a good movie – had Scott continued to explore his characters’ twisty, volatile pasts – but right now its only 65 minutes long and encased in another 60 minutes of beurocratic debris.Grade: C-THE EXTRASThe various extras included by Universal on the “Spy Game” DVD will require you to watch the film again and again, which is hardly a bad thing since the repeated viewings put events in perspective and reveal new clues. Unfortunately, we’re talking valuable hours of your life here, and the film itself might not earn them.First up are two running commentaries, one with Scott and one with producers Marc Abraham and Douglas Wick. What, no Pitt or Redford? Sad to say, but no. Still, Scott has crafted numerous espionage thrillers such as this, and his comments on the casting, shooting and approach to “Game” reveal several choice insights. One particular feature entitled “Clandestine Ops” runs alongside the film, and allows us to access behind-the-scenes clips and optional/alternate scenes with the touch of a button. This technology has been explored by New Line and Warner on some of their DVDs, and works well here. Again, it will force you to sit through the entire film again, but the additions are exciting enough.Next up, we explore deleted scenes, as well as alternate versions of four existing scenes. An alternate ending is included here that doesn’t work as well as the original, but was interesting to see. The DVD concludes with a short “Script to Storyboard” featurette, the trailer, filmographies and production notes.Grade: A-OVERALL EXPERIENCE: B-While an overall flawed film, the “Spy Game” DVD offers loads of supplements packaged in a clean, maneuverable DVD. You’ll need time to get through it all, but once it’s in your collection, time’s on your side.By Sean O’ConnellApril 24, 2002