Spy Game

Spy Game is a 2001 American spy film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.

CIA operative Nathan Muir (Redford) is on the brink of retirement when he finds out that his protege Tom Bishop (Pitt) has been arrested in China for espionage. No stranger to the machinations of the CIA's top echelon, Muir hones all his skills and irreverent manner in order to find a way to free Bishop. As he embarks on his mission to free Bishop, Muir recalls how he recruited and trained the young rookie, at that time a sergeant in Vietnam, their turbulent times together as operatives and the woman who threatened their friendship.

"Bishop: I thought spies drank martinis. Muir: Scotch, and never less than 12 years old."
 * Arc Words: "Dinner Out"
 * The Atoner:
 * Berlin Wall
 * California Doubling: Budapest for West Germany, Morocco for Beirut, a prison in Oxford for the chinese prison, and a building in England for the CIA HQs. And an in-universe example with satellite imagery of the Bahamas for satellite scans of the island where the Chinese prison is located.
 * Cold War
 * Cold Sniper: Bishop, before becoming a CIA Agent.
 * Confess to a Lesser Crime: Muir spends most of the film using CIA resources to plan an unauthorized operation to rescue Bishop. When the CIA discovers he's been accessing satellite data, Muir admits to misusing agency resources... to research retirement properties.
 * Defector From Decadence:
 * Double Take: One of the Wardens in the chinese prison, when he finds a prisoner chewing bubblegum.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him:
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Knight Templar: Muir.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Muir, and Bishop after his training, but nowhere as bastard as Muir.
 * My Country, Right or Wrong: Muir, initially.
 * No One Gets Left Behind: The reason why Muir decides to save Bishop..
 * Not a Game: Inverted. Bishop says this in response to one of Muir's controversial calls., and Muir retorts that a game is exactly what it is, and a very serious one at that.
 * Retirony: The events of the film are dumped on Muir literally the day before his retirement.
 * Rock Beats Laser / Mundane Solution: Muir claims that although technology is always evolving, the best intelligence is better obtained through mundane mediums and simple plain hard work.
 * Running Gag: The many "wives" of Muir.
 * Smug Snake: Harker.
 * Spy Fiction: Of the Stale Beer kind.


 * Training Montage
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Bishop calls Muir out several times  -- All for the greater good of the US.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess:
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Happens to Muir.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Happens to Muir.