Entertainment

2 National Treasures, 1 Cold War Thriller

by Alanna Bennett

Two national treasures are teaming up again, and no, it has nothing to do with Nic Cage: According to Variety, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are bringing the world a cold war thriller. That makes all kinds of sense — if we were to guess which two people in Hollywood were most likely to team up to bring forth another period drama about a political era, it'd be these two.

The thriller, which Spielberg is reportedly eyeing to direct, is "the true story revolving around James Donovan (Hanks), a prominent American attorney enlisted by the CIA during the Cold War to slip behind the iron curtain to negotiate the release of a pilot captured when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia."

Before you write this off as just another movie your dad might love, it seems relevant to remember a couple of Hanks and Spielberg's other team-ups. Namely, Catch Me If You Can and Saving Private Ryan. The latter, at least, seems to bear a resemblance to the concept of this film — both are about a journey to bring soldiers home — and Catch Me and Private Ryan were critical hits and generally quality films. Ryan famously received approval from actual WWII vets for its accuracy and emotional resonance. That's a big deal.

This could be just another film whose trailer we haphazardly glance at as we remember just how many movies there are about the Cold War era (hint: a lot) but these two are living legends for a reason, so we'll give them the chance to prove us wrong.