Spy Game on DVD

If you go into Spy Game with the wrong expectations, it can severely damage your appreciation of a great film.

Many expect it to be more of a James Bond-style spy action movie, but it's actually more dramatic, told through a series of flashbacks.

Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) is working undercover in China when he's taken prisoner and sentenced to death. Back in the US, his former mentor, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) is on his last day on the job. When word spreads of Bishop's capture, the CIA enlists Muir to help them figure out what Bishop was doing there in the first place. Muir tells the story of how he first met Bishop, and the relationship between them since.

Bishop didn't always agree with Muir's methods, but at the end of the day it was his job, so he always went along. Even if it meant making friends with someone in order to use them as bait.

We loved Spy Game. It's smart, and leaves you thinking about it for hours after you've seen it (not just because it's an excellent film, but also because it may take you that long to figure out what just happened).

Throughout the movie, we know Muir is up to something, but we aren't sure what. When we eventually find out, we learn that he's even smarter than we thought he was.

You can't ask for two better leads to fill the roles. Redford is a fine actor, bringing equal parts intelligence, experience and charisma to the role. Pitt has been a favorite of ours for years, and he proves again just why that is. He can be smart, funny and serious all at the same time.

Tony Scott, who has made his share of style-over-substance movies, seems to be growing up. His last film, Enemy of the State, was very good, and Spy Game is even better. It's about smart people being outsmarted by even smarter people, it has two fine lead actors, and is a very gripping thriller that will get you thinking.

The DVD presentation is very good. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture quality is top-notch. The flashback scenes are shown with a lot of blue and grey, while the current scenes are more colorful. Both look excellent, with no sign of foreign objects (other than the ones in the script!).

You can pick between 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS, and I had the same problem with this track as I do with many DVD surround tracks. The problem is, the surrounds are not used to their full potential. Spy Game has lots of sound effects, explosions, and music that would have worked beautifully with the surround speakers. Unfortunately, only a little bit of it actually does make use of them.

It's still a very good track all things considered, but it could have been more.

This is the first DVD to feature Universal's new "Total Axess" DVD-ROM feature. By putting the disc into your DVD-ROM drive, you can access quite a bit of extra features that are not available with a regular DVD player. Whereas I've never been one to care much for DVD-ROM features, I found some of these quite entertaining.

Regular special features included on the disc are also quite good. "Clandestine OPS" works much like the white rabbit feature from The Matrix DVD. Periodically throughout the film, an icon will appear which gives you the option of checking out some behind-the-scenes footage or an alternate scene. Of course this, combined with the commentaries, means you'll have to watch the film an extra three times just to catch everything. There are some deleted and alternate scenes, including an alternate ending (which is very similar to the one used in the final cut), a script-to-storyboard featurette, a commentary by Tony Scott and another by the producers, and requirements for CIA acceptance.

Spy Game, from Universal Home Entertainment
127 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS
Starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Larry Bryggman
Produced by Douglas Wick, Marc Abraham
Screenplay by Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata, Directed by Tony Scott

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