The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I have seen many films about espionage, but I like this one much. 40 years of cold war have changed everything, CIA has played a dominant role in that great game. The espionage in Berlin, Hungarian revolution, the bay of pigs,murder of Fideo Castro, all major historical events are shown by this film. I admire the courage of agents, the three classmates eventually go on three quite different ways, spy, counterspy, double agent. You will keep mysterious through the program: who is Sasha? who betrayed them? I can really feel the dangers and greatness in the field of espionage. Everything is just a show, just a plot. I heard real espionage is more complex than films. Can I enter this secretive world someday?

Overall, it is a fair, balanced movie. A couple of things. The man who attempted to poison Fidel Castro Ruz was NOT made to drink the poisoned concoction. In fact the packet which held the poison FROZE to the refrigeration pipes at the Hotel Habana Libre (formerly Havana Hilton-they only say "Libre" in the movie) before the hotel's restaurant worker had a chance to put it into Castro's 'milk shake' (batido). The G2 already new of the plan before hand. The restaurant worker's name was Santos de la Caridad Perez, and he was sentenced to a very long prison term, which he completed, and he was able to come to Miami, Florida,and there join his wife and 2 grown sons, who had been waiting for him in Caracas, Venezuela. Santos de la Caridad Perez was left to his own devices and wound up working minimum wage jobs in Miami, Florida, into his 80s. No compensation for his compromised mission, and his 14 years spent in Castro's prisons was ever paid. Thanks, 'Campanela' you a-hole!.Next, it was not prop-driven 'Sea Furies' which shot down the CIA contract pilots' B26s, but T33 JETS. To the best of my recollection, NO CIA Officers came ashore with Brigade 2506. It's a travesty that only a passing mention was made of the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Alabama Air National Guard pilots, who were contract employees, and disobeyed direct orders to lend air support to our Cuban allies. The names of these brave men were: Leo Baker, Wade Gray, Riley Shamburger, and Thomas "Pet" Ray. The B26s they flew had no tail guns so they could accommodate more fuel. They were easy prey for Castro's jets. Some of us will remember their sacrifice with eternal gratitude, respect, admiration, and will mourn them as long as we live. G_d rest them and comfort their surviving loved ones.Other than this, it was a pretty balanced movie, but I defer to those who may have first hand knowledge of what actually went down in the Hungarian uprising. G_d bless that nation's fallen martyrs and their survivors as well.

A Made-For-Cable Mini-Series that is a sprawling, stagy peek into the Espionage World of the Cold War. A Spy (CIA) vs Spy (KGB) bundle of nerves that went on for Decades and anyone intimately involved needed the "patience of a Saint" to endure.Many did last it out with failures and successes as the lines were constantly being blurred as to what was the right thing to do and what was not. It all seems like a lot of guesswork and best guesswork with a make it up as you go play-book. The consequences were Deadly and it was all in the hands of some barely stable People.But that's what there was and this long TV affair captures some of the dark and gloomy proceedings with some authentic feel, but some of it seems clunky and artificial. The Bay of Pigs and the Hungarian Revolution while providing the "Action" for the Series are the weakest parts and drag the thing down from what it does best and that is the up close and personal one on one matches and battles of Wits.Overall, worth a watch but it is an uneven Event that misfires as much as it doesn't and there is more Stagecraft than Trade Craft.

I do regret that I have bought this series. I expected more action, more objective picture and more consistency. This is just a pure propaganda series, very dark, without any charm, or romanticism, it is just boredom itself. I find the actors work quite weak as well. O'Donnell might seem charming as Robin (with Batman), but in this picture he lacks any charm. Probably while he becomes older, he is loosing his childish charm but does not gain any charm of a grown up. It comes as no surprise, that it was not shown in a lot of countries and is being sold in the UK for 40% of the recommended price and was not even released in the Netherlands.