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Bridge of Spies is two hour, 21 minute Cold-War era docu-drama directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan.

Written by Matt Charman, and later revised by Ethan and Joel Coen, the dialougue between characters is decent, but not truly poignant.

In this movie, Hanks plays Donovan, an upstanding, successful insurance lawyer tasked by the Brooklyn Bar Association to defend Rudolf Abel, a suspected Soviet spy (played by Mark Rylance).

Although the evidence against Abel is overwhelming, Donovan learns that it was obtained illegally, through an invalid search warrant.

His complaints, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, fall on deaf ears, as the courts are all too eager to convict a Soviet Spy despite the lack of legitimacy of the case.

Donovan is at least able to persuade one judge to avoid sentencing Abel to death. Instead, Abel is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

This happens because Donovan visits the judge at his house, and argues that maybe one day Abel could be used as a negotiating chip with the Soviets, and also on account of humanitarian reasons.

Around this time, the movie tells the story of Francis Gary Powers (played by Austin Stowell), an American pilot who is carefully selected and entrusted with the task of flying spy planes 70 thousand feet over Russia.

The planes are equipped with giant cameras that reveal with the press of a button, and just as Powers begins to reveal his cameras during his first mission, his plane is shot down and he is forced to make a daring escape.

Although he survives, he is captured, and is quickly tried and convicted for spying on Soviet Russia.

Donovan, who has grown fond of Abel and still keeps in contact with him, receives a letter from "Abel's wife", propositing a prisoner trade between Abel and Powers.

The CIA suspects that the letter is actually from Soviet Russia, and they accompany Donovan to East Berlin as Donovan negotiates the prisoner exchanges.

This movie was acted well and some parts felt authentic and true to life. However, other parts felt deviated from reality, and too fantastical.

Perhaps the runtime of the movie could have been shortened, and the investment into the quality of the movie could have been increased.

Altogether, it is a decent docu-drama, and worth a look if you are a fan of Spielberg and Hanks.

The movie gives good insight onto the conditions of the U.S.-Russia Cold War, and tells a mostly-true story about a real person, James B. Donovan, during that era.