Bridge of Spies - The Negotiator - Blu-ray

Film: USA, in the 1950s: Insurance lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) has a reputation as a first-rate negotiator since his involvement during the Nuremberg trials. As a result, he is chosen to defend Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Soviet agent arrested by the FBI who has been living undetected in New York for years. Despite legitimate fears of putting his reputation on the line, Donovan puts his all into the case until the hatred he faces from the public spills over into his family. After the verdict, the case seems to be over. But then an American U-2 spy plane is shot down in Soviet airspace and pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) falls into Russian captivity. To prevent Powers from passing sensitive information to the Russians, a prisoner exchange is to be arranged: Abel for Powers. Donovan, of all people, is to travel to Berlin as an independent mediator to organize the exchange. But then a young American student is arrested in East Berlin, reshuffling the cards for Donovan.

Based on true events, Steven Spielberg has directed a first-rate spy thriller in Bridge of Spies, where he again displays his talent for great entertainment cinema with depth. With the support of a great script by Oscar winners Joel and Ethan Coen, Spielberg transforms a rather dry political subject matter into a clever cat-and-mouse game in which elegantly staged moments of suspense, big emotions and surprisingly light humour are coherently mixed into a rousing whole. Although there is actually no action in the classic sense and the action is largely determined by dialogue, there is never a second of boredom. Here Spielberg proves once again to be a master of his craft, who could probably also film the phone book in an extremely exciting way.

In addition to the excellent script, the gripping production and the atmospheric imagery of the filming locations in New York and Berlin, the first-class actors of course also ensure that Bridge of Spies has become one of the best films of the year. Tom Hanks once again delivers an extremely charismatic and at the same time very multi-layered performance, which is able to carry the film confidently at every moment. Hanks harmonizes perfectly with his co-stars, but is constantly upstaged by the extremely understated, truly wonderful performance of Mark Rylance. The scenes between Donovan and Rudolf Abel are therefore among the best moments of the film, with their last encounter in particular playing the entire emotional keyboard. It's really quite great cinema.

Bridge of Spies has everything that good cinema entertainment needs: suspense, humor, great actors and dialogue that you can hardly get enough of. In addition, the true background of the story is so interesting that you end up wanting to know more about James Donovan, his life and his work. One of Spielberg's best films in recent years and a must-see for anyone who appreciates sophisticated entertainment films. Absolutely worth seeing!!!

Image + Sound: The Blu-ray's image is absolutely clean and has good to very good overall sharpness in most moments, revealing little visible drop in quality even in darker scenes. So all in all, a very good overall impression prevails, which the sound can also leave behind. The DTS 5.1 mix is pleasantly vibrant even in the quieter moments of the story. In the dialogue scenes, the actors' voices are transported out of the speakers with good intelligibility, while some sound effects and atmospheric ambient noises ensure that the surround channels are always in use as well. All in all, this earns a more than satisfied: good!

Extras: Really many extras has the Blu-ray unfortunately not to offer. In addition to a making of, in which the historical background is also illuminated (approx. 17:45 min.), there are three other featurettes about the cinematic realization of the divided Berlin (approx. 11:35 min.), about the Lockheed U 2 reconnaissance plane (approx. 8:45 min.) and about the agent exchange on the Glienicker Bridge (approx. 5:42 min.). All in all, just under 42 interesting minutes - but it could have been a bit more due to the interesting story.

Conclusion: Bridge of Spies is exciting, entertaining, great acting and grippingly directed. Steven Spielberg delivers one of his best films in recent years with this spy thriller based on true events. On the Blu-ray, the work presents itself in atmospheric picture and sound quality, only in the extras are not brought out the best possible. Nevertheless, for this disc a clear: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp