Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Intelligent
This is a movie that is essentially a time warp. We are warped back into the seventies, when film was more grainy, the camera was actually steady, actors had substance, movies actually had a story to tell, and the audience was patient and intelligent.

By the standards of contemporary movie-making, when the first five minutes is usually an appetizer action sequence with a lot of explosions, this novel takes a really long time to get started, and the conflict slowly unfolds. Gary Oldman does an excellent job of playing the understated George Smiley, who must uncover a Russian mole within the leadership circle of British intelligence while battling old age/insignificance and the loss of the love of his life. George Smiley is the unlikeliest of all action heroes, and this spy thriller the opposite of James Bond. It doesn't have the epic scale and consequence of "The Good Shepherd," which was a great spy thriller in its own right. But "Tinker, Tailor" does work, and is a...

Fun at the Circus - But Not An Action Movie....
Probably like a lot of modern viewers, I had heard of but not read this book, nor seen the BBC TV series - Both were issued in the 1970's.

I did though read a few summaries, knew that it was loosely based on the hunt for British turncoat spy Kim Philby, and went into the movie understanding that it requires very careful attention to keep up with the involved plot. Seeing it cold, I still thought it was great, with terific performances by many decorated actors throughout the movie, and Gary Oldman is fantastic in the lead. In some ways, if like me you see it without knowing the story first, his character is done in a way that helps take you into the story, as he barely says anything in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie and just seems to be watching what all is going on. By the end, he has transformed into a strong character that has figured out the whole scheme.

While I loved the movie, even without having read the book to know the full story, it felt...

A Brooding Silence...
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is a well-executed adaptation of John Le Carre's classic espionage novel of the Cold War, with a first-rate cast, a haunting atmosphere, and a compelling narrative.

"Tinker" goes right to work. The opening sequence has field agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on an off-the-books mission to Hungary for the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as Control (John Hurt). Control suspects a mole within the upper reaches of the Service, and asks Prideaux to send back a codeword identifying the spy, using the children's nursery rhyme. The mission is compromised, Priddeaux is shot, and Control and his deputy George Smiley (Gary Oldman) are fired.

A restless Smiley is recalled to duty by a senior civil servant to investigate some unfinished business involving Ricki Tarr (a blonde Tom Hardy), a field agent who claims to know a vital Soviet secret and who has gone off the grid. With the assistance of Tarr's desk officer, the...

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