Revisits familiar themes and ideas from other, earlier films that were presented to far better effect the first time around.

The relatively straightforward bio-pic trajectory feels more like a Victorian/Edwardian era soap opera than the chronicle of a scientific pioneer.

Is too long by at least a half-hour for the surprisingly slight tale it has to tell.

At times moves too slowly for its own good but the climax is as rousing as that of any Western made during the decade when the genre was at its peak.

Spy action-thrillers are supposed to be fun on some level but this one is too much of a chore to properly entertain.

Eastwood has crafted an engaging (albeit fictionalized) account of the triumph of ordinary men over the establishment.