I love action movies. Moreover, I love action movies with espionage-infused plots. Since there are so many films that entail espionage and action, I had to split hairs when it came to narrowing down my choices. First, I eliminated any films that weren’t in English, didn’t have American past/present secret agents, and films that were made before 1990.
I’d like to address the unfortunate byproduct of my rigidity: an absence of female protagonists. Neither Anne Parillaud of “La Femme Nikita” nor Greta Garbo of “Mata Hari” made the cut. “La Femme Nikita” is a French film and like its American counterpart “Point of No Return” are more assassin movies; “Mata Hari” was released in 1931, much too early.
The five Best American Spy Action movies from 1990 were then ranked, using the criteria: “Heart-Pounding Action”, “Wonderstated Hero”, and “Plot Cleverness with a Twist”. “Heart-Pounding Action” entails the creativity, suspense, and intensity of the chase and fight scenes. An excellent spy drama, “The Good Shepherd” missed the list by a hair in this department. A “Wonderstated Hero” would be someone understated in their ass-kicking spy talents, and yet wonderfully witty when necessary. “Plot Cleverness with a Twist” can only be described as predictably unpredictable: American audiences expect to be surprised by twists and turns in any good spy movie plot, even the “Spy Kids” Series addresses this.
“Enemy of the State” (1998) and “Spy Game” (2001) tied for fourth and fifth place on the list. Both movies are directed by Tony Scott and follow what I call the “Guru and Greenhorn” formula. This is the cliché wherein an old veteran of the spy game teaches a young (preferably handsome) operative how to survive. “Enemy of the State” scores the lowest in “Plot Cleverness with a Twist” and “Wonderstated Hero” categories. It is expected that confident Will Smith will save the day, even if he’s a greenhorn at the game of espionage. Paired with Gene Hackman as the subversive, reclusive ex-NSA guru, the two make an entertaining odd couple, but not as entertaining as heartthrobs Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in the training sequence of “Spy Game”. “Enemy of the State” excels is in its “Heart-Pounding Action”: explosions, a chase scene has Smith jumping from building to building in his underwear and the film ends in a Mexican standoff.
One is more action-packed, whereas the other has better character development.
“Spy Game” scored the lowest in the “Heart-Pounding Action” quotient; its suspenseful scenes were more tactical than visual. But whatever “Spy Game” lacks in action, is compensated by cleverness. “’Operation Dinner Out’ is a go” and it’s funded by Agent Muir (Redford). There are no clear adversaries in this film—it’s a much more complicated game than the archetypal “good versus evil”.
“Ronin” (1998) ranked third place on the list, scoring the highest in the “Wonderstated Hero” department because of the wonderfully understated ensemble cast of bad-asses.
“Have you ever killed anybody?” asks Spence (Sean Bean).
“I hurt someone’s feelings once,” replies Sam (Robert De Niro).
Whenever the subject of good car chases comes up, “Ronin” is always mentioned. Thanks to its intricate Parisian Audi S8 chase and Sam’s coffee cup ambush, “Ronin” scored fourth place in the “Heart-Pounding Action” quotient. However, the car chases don’t drive this movie, the plot does. “Ronin” scored third place in the “Plot Cleverness with a Twist” department. Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård) betrays the team and “the girl [Natascha McElhone] sells them out”.
Normally, a cliché “James Bond” movie would never make my list. However “Casino Royale” is an outlier. This movie ranks second on the list. “Casino Royale” is the second- best in terms of my “Plot Cleverness with a Twist” quotient. Although the archetypical creepy-looking bad guy Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) makes this movie look like other Bond film clichés, “Casino Royale” has much more complexity.
In terms of a “Wonderstated Hero” this movie ranks third. Unlike other Bonds, this one (Daniel Craig) is the only vulnerable one; he’s almost always on the verge of death and this playboy actually gets “played” by the savvy and sophisticated love interest Vesper (Eva Green). He is the only Bond to give up his “double-O” status for love. Some noteworthy scenes that brought “Casino Royale” to the second place in my “Heart-Pounding Action” category: Bond’s excruciating, yet defiant torture scene, his near death by poisoning, and his pursuit of and fight with an international bomb-maker Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan) on a precarious construction site.
“Bourne Identity” (2002) tops my list of Best American Spy Action Movie. The entire “Bourne” trilogy could have been first, second, and third on the list, but that would be too easy. The first of this series stands on its own anyway; it scores Number One in both the “Heart-Pounding Action” and “Plot Cleverness with a Twist” category. Thanks to amnesia, Agent Bourne (Matt Damon) is both greenhorn and guru. Second only to the cast of “Ronin”, Damon’s “Wonder-stated Hero” Bourne beats Bond. He speaks multiple languages and fights with expert economy of movement without knowing why. Love interest Marie (Franka Potente) is not the typical “Bond girl” by any stretch; she is a damsel dragged into distress by Bourne. The ultimate plot twist is the discovery of Jason Bourne as the “bad guy”.
These five movies, “Bourne Identity”, “Casino Royale”, “Ronin”, “Enemy of the State” , and “Spy Game” exemplify the Best American Spy Action by my standards as of today: “Heart-Pounding Action”, “Wonderstated Hero”, and “Plot Cleverness with a Twist”. I am fully willing for this list to change and evolve as I am exposed to more spy movies that leave me on the edge of my seat, “shaken, not stirred” from plot twists.
