Bridge of Spies

Tom Hanks lends his considerable Honest John appeal to this fascinating cold war drama about the secret exchange of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, captured by the FBI in New York City, and Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia in 1960. James Donovan (Hanks), a Brooklyn insurance lawyer and former Nuremberg prosecutor, agreed to defend Abel on principle, which brought him and his family public scorn. Though he lost the case, he privately persuaded the judge not to execute Abel, arguing that he would be more valuable to the U.S. alive than dead, and then wound up as part of the negotiating team that exchanged Abel for Powers on the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this has all the sobriety and polish of his previous historical project, Lincoln (2012); you’d never guess the original script was by Joel and Ethan Coen. With Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Mark Rylance, and Austin Stowell.