It’s been a great year for movies in general, but one genre has racked up a bunch of impressive wins in a way that it simply hasn’t before: the spy flick. And with SPECTRE hitting theaters this weekend, (and early reviews being mostly positive — look here tomorrow for ours) it will cement that assertion in place.
It used to be we’d only get one or two movies about espionage every year — a new James Bond movie every few years, an occasional Austin Powers or Mission Impossible or standalone film — but 2015 has not only had a spy movie every few months, but they have far and away been good. Like really, really good.
Even more impressive is the depth they’ve shown and the breadth of styles. Some are comedies, some based on comic books, some ultra modern, some set in the swingin’ 60’s. But they’ve all brought a lot of fun and enjoyment to audiences throughout the year.
Let’s run down 10 reasons to crown 2015 as “The Year of the Spy”. The year opened with a movie very few of us expected to be so strong:
10. Kingsman: The Secret Service (9.5 out of 10) – Released Feb 13, 2015 – Yes, this Valentine’s Day, Matthew Vaughn served up audiences a beautiful love note to the spy genre. While this film played with most of the tropes of the spy genre, it was also self-aware enough to literally keep reminding the audience “This isn’t that kind of movie.” I hailed this as the best movie of the year so far when released, and it remains in the top 10 along with several of its spy movie brethren. Hail Satan, and have a lovely afternoon.
9. Agent Carter (8.5 out of 10 — running average) – Released January 2015 – Ok, this isn’t a movie. But it is cinematic and a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as much as anything. And it is excellent. Other than Daredevil (if you count that as tv?) this is the best show on television all year. Yes. It was. I stand by that.
8. Ex Machina (10 out of 10) – Released April 10, 2015 – Kingsman remained the best movie of 2015 until Ex Machina came out. No, this isn’t the traditional “spy” movie. But in a very broad definition, it fits. There are secrets. There is a battle of wills and wits between the main characters. There are some serious femme fatales. Or robots. Whatever. But this fits under a broad definition of the genre and as one of the year’s best films helps cement this as The Year of the Spy even more.
7. Spy (8 out of 10) – Released June 5, 2015 – Not a spy movie parody, but a solid spy movie that happened to have brilliant comedic elements to it, this was a great, fun film that showed off the talents of its cast. Despite Paul Feig needing an editor, it’s one of both the best comedies of the year and one of the best spy movies of the year.
6. Minions (7.5 out of 10) Released July 10, 2015 – Yes, this is a spy movie. This movie is all about espionage and it’s set in the swingin’ 60’s and not afraid of that. And yes I liked it and I don’t care what you say, Adam, it was fun. (You can listen to us argue about Minions here)
5. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (8 out of 10) Released July 31, 2015 – Another solid entry into the MI franchise, this movie had all of the great stunts and action sequences you’d expect. Despite having some problems with its villain, the main cast more than made up for it, especially Simon Pegg and newcomer Rebecca Ferguson. I hope you got to see this in IMAX, especially that opening scene with the plane.
4. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (7.5 out of 10) Released August 14, 2015 – Fun, stylistic, and oh-so-Cold-War spy era, this was the point in the year where I perked up and noticed “We have had a ridiculous number of good spy movies this year.” From the two spies trying to constantly bug one another to their competing approaches to espionage, this was just a lot of fun. Unlike. . .
3. Sicario (7.5 out of 10) Released October 2, 2015 – As much fun as Man from UNCLE was, Sicario was depressing and soul-crushing. And yes, this is a spy movie. Most of the characters are CIA, which means by definition, this is a spy movie. And, more than any of these other films, probably portrays better exactly what our intelligence agencies spend more of their time doing rather than cloak and dagger operations that we romanticize in movies. An amazing film for when you want to feel awful about humanity, which leads us to. . .
2. Bridge of Spies (10 of out 10) Released October 16, 2015 – This is a great film, and while it’s not so much about spycraft (though we do get a lot of that), it does make you feel good about humanity. An amazing blend of script, director, and cast all knocking it out of the park, this is one of the best movies of the year and the only time in my memory that a group of Big Shiny Robot writers all got together to review a film and a) all agreed on the score, and b) that score was a perfect 10/10.
1. SPECTRE – Review coming soon. But it’s a James Bond movie, and unless this is Moonraker or Octopussy levels of bad, it’s going to be mostly enjoyable and the crowning reason 2015 is the year of the spy.
And finally, the exceptions that prove the rule: Mortdecai and Hitman: Agent 47. These were just awful. Let’s try to forget about them, at least until Razzie Season.
So, did we miss anything? Too much praise for something? Not enough for something else? Am I stretching in my definition of what constitutes a spy flick? Let us know in the comment section, but everyone else, please to enjoy 2015: The Year of the Spy Movie.