Tom Hanks does a superb job of acting in a movie heavily reliant on the craft, like many films with simple but powerful storylines.
Bridge of Spies is inspired by true events from the Cold War -- when Americans were all too keen to wash their hands of anyone who threatened to be less than 100 per cent patriotic, and when the Berlin Wall was built.
Hanks plays James Donovan, a Boston insurance lawyer dumped with defending suspected Russian spy Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance), in order to give the appearance that Abel was offered a fair defence.
What the partners of his firm had not counted on was Donovan's level of integrity and commitment to honouring the code of doing your best to defend your client, regardless of who they are.
The results of Donovan's actions impact his own personal and professional life and before long he is recruited by the CIA to negotiate a prisoner exchange after an American fighter pilot is captured behind enemy lines.
