It’s official: Tom Hanks is America’s dad. For a minute there, those Father of the Bride films nearly sold us on Steve Martin, but somewhere between Forrest Gump and his new film, Bridge of Spies, Hanks locked down the All-American Father Figure Championship Belt. Perhaps it’s his affable, good-natured demeanor or just his near-superheroic script selection skills. Whatever the case may be, Hanks — guided by frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg — is at it again, standing up for what’s right so we don’t have to.

Bridge of Spies — also known as Spielberg’s latest trip through the history books — stars Hanks as James B. Donovan, an American insurance lawyer recruited in 1957 by the U.S. government to defend an alleged Soviet spy during the Cold War. Initially, the goal is simply to provide due process to the accused Rudolf Abel (played by Mark Rylance), but Donovan soon winds up as the primary facilitator in a trade between the Soviet Union and the U.S. involving the safe return of an American pilot whose plan went down behind enemy lines.

Fans of Spielberg’s visceral work in Saving Private Ryan might find Bridge of Spies as chatty as an unskilled conversationalist, but in tackling the moral implications of Donovan’s situation head-on, the film is far more compelling than its procedural subject matter would have audiences believe. The film’s real-life premise sees its protagonist constantly rebuked by all those around him — including his wife (Amy Ryan) — for putting his full effort into providing sound legal representation for a man who ultimately is accused of conspiring against the U.S.

Hanks’ fast-talking do-gooder leads us through an exploration of the broken American justice system, with his “every person matters” mantra serving as the film’s de facto mission statement. For his part, the actor offers a committed performance that more than steps up to his character’s circumstances. One scene in particular demonstrates just how intellectually and ethically outmatched Donovan’s adversaries are, as he handily explains the vital role the “rulebook” of the law plays in defining American values.

Meanwhile, Spielberg — thanks to a script by the Coen Bros. — makes the smart choice not to dwell on the minutiae of the legal process but the personal story at its center and the larger significance it has on the nation as a whole. One slick transition even intercuts the “all rise” at the beginning of a court session with a group of young schoolchildren reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, underscoring that this simple patriotism becomes far more complicated as one’s years advance. Foreign policy isn’t a topic audiences may be drawn to, but Bridge of Spies — the first Spielberg film in decades to not feature a John Williams score — is infused with enough light character moments to keep the material accessible to moviegoers.

That being said, the film does suffer a bit from its decision to continually intercut between Donovan’s story and a squadron of American soldiers. Its clear that this technique was designed to build suspense for how the soldiers would factor into the main story, but this subplot ultimately still emerges underdeveloped by film’s end, making these sequences superfluous to the main action.

For audiences who aren’t down with non-franchise fare, Bridge of Spies may be a bit too slow-paced to sit through (spoiler alert: no superheroes, dinosaurs or X-wings appear). Still, adult audiences interested in a thoughtful, well-crafted morality tale will be onboard from the opening frames all the way to the powerful finale on the titular bridge. At this point, it remains to be seen whether the film (or another talky contender, Steve Jobs) will be recognized for any awards this coming season, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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