DVD review: Still conflicted about ‘Spy Game’

Geoff Carter

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

I'm torn: I don't know whether director Tony Scott deserves banishment from Hollywood or a mere dope-slap. His work on the Robert Redford/Brad Pitt thriller "Spy Game"-- now availble on DVD (Universal, $26.98) -- veers between the two, dizzy as Tonya Harding after happy hour.

There's no denying that it's among Scott's best films, but that's a hollow victory for the director of "The Last Boy Scout" and "Beverly Hills Cop 2." His movies are soulless, prettily packaged exercises in alpha-male idiocy, in which the bad guys speak nothing but punch lines and the heroes run on autopilot and have no time for sex, despite being surrounded by Maxim cover girls.

"Spy Game," as penned by David Arata, rails against those conventions. Most of the story takes place in flashback, and is narrated from a CIA conference room. The two leads never buddy up; their relationship is defined by mutual respect and sense of duty. Scott notes these limitations in his commentary track, then spends two hours explaining why he mucked up the story with unnecessary helicopter shots and jump cuts.

"I've a short attention span," he says. Really? He also admits that Redford fought with him over some of the shots, that the studio was afraid of him "making an art film," and that he's apparently the only director in Hollywood, save his brother, who knows how to use de-saturated colors in the service of the story. Slap!

That's not to say there isn't much to admire in "Spy Game." Redford's performance is deliciously evil, and wholly likeable; you love him even when he's doing the wrong thing. The story follows his efforts to save Pitt, his young charge, from execution in China, and the flashback elements of the story brashly attempt to evoke America's love-hate relationship with espionage over a 16-year period, from Vietnam to Beirut.

Unfortunately, Scott makes mistakes so simple that you wonder why he didn't call his brother. Pitt and Redford's characters never age over two decades. The love interest (Catherine McCormack) is as pretty and bland as in any Scott film, making you wonder how she could be used as a plot driver; the lads might as well be fighting over a Barbie doll.

Redford pretty much dominates the picture, and he makes "Spy Game" worth the price of rental. Watching him "aw, shucks" his way through proceedings that could land him before a congressional subcommittee is as fun as it gets.

Rent "Spy Game" and review Redford's best scenes after you've watched it, ignoring all the extended and deleted scenes provided as extras. There's only so many ways you can look at Scott's tricks before the means by which he accomplished them begin to strangle the story. At least Redford gave the man a well-deserved smack every now and again.