In the movie, Robert Redford plays Nathan Muir, an agent who is about to retire but not before being questioned before the CIA about agent Tom Bishop, another agent who was just captured by the chinese government for a botched mission. The mystery is why he was captured in the first place.
    Out of this entire film, I felt Robert Redford's role was the true heart of the movie. His work as a sly slick agent who throughout the entire film is being questioned is excellent. In the movie, while he's being questioned, the CIA feel they have him pegged, yet you get told otherwise as the film progresses. Brad Pitt is a great supporting cast member, mostly appearing in Redford's flashbacks when Bishop first started out as an agent under the tutelage of the aging Redford. The entire movie's feel is very authentic with it's constant freeze-frames which count down to the deadline Redford's character must negotiate before 8am when Pitt's character will be executed. Throughout the entire movie, he is constantly scheming his way past CIA agents who are onto him, yet in the end he succeeds.

The entire movie's plot is very confusing and so cold, that at times it makes it hard for us to care about the characters. Though the chemistry between veteran actor Redford and young actor Pitt is engrossing, it is also emotionless and leaves us feeling out in the cold. The entire movie is saved by Redford who gives this movie the pep it needs with his sly character. There's no emphasis on any of the characters and no emphasis on the villains, so why should we care? I felt the movie could've done more with its big cast and intricate plot, yet it doesn't.

For a movie that teams up a Hollywood legend and a great actor, the plot is sub-par. If you watch this for any reason, watch it for the chemistry between the two leading men.