NOT since Michael Caine played Harry Palmer has a film effectively captured the mundane and occasionally cruel world of spying.

The cinema tends to concentrate on the glamour of James Bond or the inane stunts of Mission Impossible when portraying the grey world of espionage, only Pierce Brosnan's starring role in the Le Carre adaptation The Tailor of Panama, came close to revealing the double dealing and self-interest that motivates a secret agent.

But in Spy Game (15) director Tony Scott faithfully turns Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata's script into a gritty piece about the corrupting influence of CIA agents and how the actions of a government can wreak unforseen havoc in far away places.

It is especially topical at the moment for a film to be dealing with the fallout from American foreign policy.

Robert Redford and Brad Pitt are the men at the centre of the action, and both distinguish themselves with fine performances.

Redford is a careworn veteran, as adept at moving among the political predators at CIA headquarters as dealing with terrorists and traitors on the ground in far flung hell holes.

But his last day in the job before retirement is marred by the news that his protege, Pitt, is being held in a Chinese jail and will be executed within 24 hours.

To make matters worse for the CIA, he is being tortured to discover everything he knows about his agency's murky covert operations.

The news is difficult to take for Redford because it is a long time since he has been on speaking terms with Pitt.

To find out why, we are taken via a series of flashbacks to Pitt's first meeting with Redford in Vietnam, his recruitment into the CIA and the way pupil and mentor learn to operate together.

The root of the problem, as is often the way in films dealing with men in perilous situations, is a woman.

Pitt has become involved with aid worker Catherine McCormack, which appears to have divided his loyalties.

Redford finds himself in an interrogation room as fellow agents discover why Pitt has been captured, what he might let slip and what Redford can do about it.

The film plays devil's advocate for those who wonder why spies are necessary and whether or not the lives of hundreds of ordinary people should be traded in favour of ensnaring one terrorist.

It questions who the good guys really are, while leaving the audience to wonder whether the two leads are heroes or villains.

Redford is wonderful as the long-serving company man torn between loyalty to his young pupil and sense of duty.

Pitt, too, recovers his reputation as a smooth operator, after playing an idiot in The Mexican, with a mature and ultra-cool performance.

Scott ably weaves the unfolding story and the flashbacks together. He gives both actors the opportunity to expand their characters while never allowing them to slow the story down.

This is not an action adventure, much less an old-fashioned spy thriller but it has enough ingredients from both genres to satisfy everyone.