In the Company of Spies (1999)

Entertaining, tension-filled ... gave a relatively realistic portrayal of the CIA at work!

I recently watched an old spy movie on StarHub Cable Television. It's entitled 'In the Company of Spies', starring Tom Berenger & Ron Silver.

In a nutshell, a CIA operative was captured by the North Koreans in their country. His CIA boss, in order to protect national security, decided to bring in an old retired CIA operative (played by Tom Berenger) to retrieve both the captured agent & the vital information in his possession.

The movie was made during the end of the nineties. It did not contain all those fancy CGI stuff as well as the routine high-octane car chases or shoot-outs found in modern spy thrillers.

It was an entertaining movie about political intrigue, allegiance to human intelligence on the ground, loyalty to mentor & buddies, exploring scenarios (of potential enemy response) & deciphering hidden clues with the aid of technology, & solid behind-the-scenes intelligence legwork.

For these aspects, the movie gave a relatively realistic portrayal of the CIA at work when one of their operatives was captured by the enemy.

Even without the CGI stuff & high-octane action sequences, the movie was adequately tension-filled to keep me in suspense throughout, as our hero thought collectively with the other CIA analysts, as well as work collaboratively with competing agencies within the national intelligence community to extract the vital information from the captured agent.

Come to think of it, the intriguing backdrop of North Korea - amassing nuclear missiles - as depicted in the movie, made almost two decades ago, was so real even for today, especially when we just transpose it to the current perspective of the belligerent North Koreans.

I thought Tom Berenger played his part very well in the movie. I had enjoyed watching him in the Sniper movie trilogy. April 8, 2008

Made with CIA cooperation

Saw this on Showtime (it's a Showtime Original movie). Very well made. Exciting, and apparently fairly accurate, as far as they'll let us know, anyway. This was the first (only?) movie CIA ever cooperated with. (...)Maybe SHO will play it again sometime... November 17, 2002

Excellent

Tom Berenger (Kevin Jefferson) plays a retired CIA agent (and current owner of a fine Asian restaurant) who reluctantly returns to the job when Jack Marco, a former colleague (while posing as an engineer in North Korea), is kidnapped by a North Korean government in a blackmail scheme.

Kevin offers to tell Jack's wife about his kidnapping... then with her desperate urging, he agrees to stay involved in the case. In the meantime, Jack is being tortured by the North Korean kidnappers for information.

While Kevin gets the team together of former and new colleagues, to save Jack... we are introduced to some fascinating characters and events along the way. The tiny details that provide the CIA agents' with clues are fascinating; it's amazing someone could even think these up! The steps that are taken to pull the team together, and detailed intelligence and techniques that you watch occur to save Jack Marco, and discover what the North Korean government is actually working to do, makes this movie a must see!

Suspenseful, full of hard decisions, intense action... greed, political indifference, and deceit - along with friendship, loyalty and romance. You'll be proud to be an American!

Romance blossoms throughout the chaos, proving this movie will be enjoyable for men and women! February 17, 2002

Excellent

Tom Berenger (Kevin Jefferson) plays a retired CIA agent (and current owner of a fine Asian restaurant) who reluctantly returns to the job when Jack Marco, a former colleague (while posing as an engineer in North Korea), is kidnapped by a North Korean government in a blackmail scheme.

Kevin offers to tell Jack's wife about his kidnapping... then with her desperate urging, he agrees to stay involved in the case. In the meantime, Jack is being tortured by the North Korean kidnappers for information.

While Kevin gets the team together of former and new colleagues, to save Jack... we are introduced to some fascinating characters and events along the way. The tiny details that provide the CIA agents' with clues are fascinating; it's amazing someone could even think these up! The steps that are taken to pull the team together, and detailed intelligence and techniques that you watch occur to save Jack Marco, and discover what the North Korean government is actually working to do, makes this movie a must see!

Suspenseful, full of hard decisions, intense action... greed, political indifference, and deceit - along with friendship, loyalty and romance. You'll be proud to be an American!

Romance blossoms throughout the chaos, proving this movie will be enjoyable for men and women! February 17, 2002

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