- Network: SHOWTIME
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 28, 2015
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
A fascinating window into the thinking at the top of a compulsively secret agency that has been the spearhead of the war on terror.
-
As the film moves past Sept. 11 and into topics like black sites, waterboarding, and drone warfare, a fascinating schism opens, exposing the existential battle being waged among the agency's own captains for the CIA's soul. [20/27 Nov 2015, p.105]
-
With all that meaty content, most of the production’s problems are stylistic, including too many B-roll shots of the various CIA directors walking purposefully or staring pensively into the distance. While that might sound like a quibble, such flourishes represent the kind of unnecessary, cheesy devices that detract from the seriousness of this discussion of the CIA’s “tough decisions.”
-
Spymasters is especially fascinating when the talk turns to "enhanced interrogation"--all shun the word torture--and President Obama's drone-strike strategy. [23 Nov - 6 Dec 2015, p.15]
-
There’s a basic tension at the heart of The Spymasters that the film tries little to resolve, which is especially disappointing in the wake of recent terrorist attacks by the Islamic State.