BRIDGE OF SPIES (2015)

Jim Donovan (Tom Hanks) is an insurance lawyer during the Cold War in America when his firm urges him to be the defense counsel for accused Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).  The trial is a joke, Abel already seen as guilty, and the best Donovan can do is wrangle a prison sentence for his client in exchange for the death penalty, citing the possibility of the USA being in need of the prisoner for some future exchange, should one of their own get caught in Russia.  Sure enough, when a U.S. pilot with dangerous secrets is captured in Russia, the CIA recruits no less than Donovan (as he's a private citizen with no ties to the U.S. government, per se) to oversee what turns into a rather complicated trade-off.  Hanks, Rylance, director Steven Spielberg, the entire cast in fact is terrific in this Cold War thriller ... yet as I watched it, I couldn't help feel I'd traveled this road (a lot) before; Hanks playing his one-man-against-the-odds do-gooder, as well as Spielberg's blueprint, A-Z telling of the story in a way that just feels ... "Spielbergian".  Well-made, suspenseful, and a great watch ... even if it all feels a bit too familiar. (rated PG-13)  B