Our take
Spy Ops is informative, and at least in the beginning, quite engaging. But the allure of insider access and first-hand knowledge quickly gives way to boredom. You can only insert so many archival clips, reenact so many events, and dramatize so much of the music before it becomes obvious how scant the material actually is. It also suffers from a narrow perspective; we hear from the intelligence operatives but rarely from people who don’t share the same views, people who more often than not are from the Global South. The information it shares seems vital enough, but without the expert editing and wide perspective that a truly compelling documentary needs, Spy Ops falls flat.
Synopsis
Intelligence operatives from MI6 to the CIA share insider stories of spy craft, Cold War campaigns, and coups carried out by covert agents.
Storyline
Former spies from the CIA and M16 share insider information on well-known cases, ranging from the US’ capture of Bin Laden to the UK’s retrieval of an agent in the Soviet Union.
TLDR
It has enough material to intrigue, but it doesn’t dive deep enough to be a compelling and worthwhile watch.
What stands out
Spy Ops is so rudimentary that nothing about it really stands out, and it doesn’t excite enough curiosity to have you think about it once it’s over. The docuseries is not terrible, but it’s not excellent either. Instead, it dwells in that middle ground of stories that like to play things safe. With this, Spy Ops joins an arsenal of middling non-fiction narratives that take on controversial topics but are too afraid, in the end, to dive deep into their complexities.