Pawns in the game

A Most Wanted Man

Crit

Ah, Phil, Phil, Phil. There were times when just looking at him up there and knowing I'd never again see him do something I've never seen him or anyone else do quite that way before bought me pretty damn close to tears. The picture itself is an OK spyworld vehicle, but I don't think it's just sentimentality that makes me say Hoffman elevates every scene he's in, which is about 95% of the scenes in the film.

And best of all are his half-dozen or so scenes with Robin Wright, as a CIA operative who is essentially Claire Underwood, which is to say she's essentially Lady Macbeth. Hoffman and Wright go at each other like baseline sluggers in tennis, like longtime lovers who know each other's every move and know how to feign surprise--like, in short, great actors, and great spies. I used to think Wright was in over her head in everything of substance I saw her in, much like I now feel about Rachel McAdams. Can McAdams grow up to be as good as Wright?