Customer Reviews
By
John Poffenbarger (Mukilteo, Washington United States) (REAL NAME)
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 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 of course 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 like the plot was overly compressed to fit within 2 hours. I watched it intently, but there were still a couple of developments in the plot, as done in the movie, that seemed like huge leaps, where the book must surely set it out better. So I'm now off to get the book and the BBC series, as it is such a great story, I want to get the full picture.By the way, a viewing tip, courtesy of the Seattle Times movie reviewer - the many flashbacks can sometimes be confusing, but one way to help keep them straight is the glasses worn by Gary Oldman. He buys a new pair at the start of the movie, so the flashbacks show him with his old gla sses - for the current events, he is wearing the new ones....
By
Jiang Xueqin (Toronto, Canada)
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 a ge/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 rare breed of film: a movie that stays loyal to the book while transforming onto the big screen. What ultimately makes it work is the director's steady hand, his willingness and courage to test the audience's patience as he slowly builds up the plot, just as George Smiley patiently built his strategy to track down the Russian mole.
By
D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
"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 busine ss 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 young Peter Guillam (an astonishingly good Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley quietly renews the search for the mole. Some old-fashioned detecting leads Smiley and Guillam down a thin trail of clues to four suspects and a fateful confrontation at a house in London.Although only two hours long, "Tinker" manages to work in the key elements from a long novel, and gets some terrific work from the cast, especially Gary Oldman as Smiley, a weary Cold War veteran whose long brooding silences speak volumes. The 1970's setting of the novel is evoked in detail with hair and clothing fashions, music, and technical props such as typewriters, old-fashioned teletypes, and reel-to-reel tape recorders. The pacing of the story keeps the suspense alive to the end.The inevitable comparison is with the superb BBC TV mini-s eries of the late 1970's starring Alec Guinness as Smiley. It is a weakness of the movie that at just two hours, it lacks the time to properly introduce the many characters or the period to a modern audience who may not have experienced the Cold War. There isn't a lot of exposition in the movie, and this reviewer, who was very familiar with the novel and the mini-series, suspects some viewers may have trouble following the story."Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is highly recommended as an excellent and atmospheric spy drama.
By
technoguy "jack" (Rugby)
Just to be clear. I was impressed with the film, its casting, and its direction. And it's impossible to say how I would have reacted if I had come to it fresh, but I didn't, and therefore I can only judge it as I found it, which is as a well made,skilfully acted and directed spy thriller, some way short of the masterpiece which other critics have claimed it as. I never really suspended my disbelief.First of all I applaud Alfredson(director of Let The Right One In) for choosing this subject.The outsider's perspective on British themes,here the subject of spying, treachery,the Cold War. Second,his utilisation of the best of British actors to play the roles and especially Gary Oldman.Thirdly,the compression of the vast material of le Carre's Tinker,Tailor into a two hour film,like "stuffing an elephant into a telephone booth".I prefer films which explore character and are well plotted,based on reality rather than myth,superheroes,fantasy,the crashbangwallop school of cinema.We are in a grey world of bureaucracy and idealogical struggles,the battle of wits,in a world of human foibles,mistrust,weaknesses.Smiley(Oldman) is brought back out of retirement to track down a traito r in the MI6,facing an adversary as brilliant and inscrutable as himself.Le Carre worked as an operative in the 50s and 60s and his identity was betrayed to the Soviets by the mole Philby,like the one in the film.The mole's option of betrayal is based on "an aesthetic choice as much as a moral one",the decline of Empire and anti-Americanism.Hurt,Cumberbatch,Firth and Strong all play pivotal roles.The cinematography reflects well the smoky,claustrophobic,downbeat 70s.We are in a world that's in decline,a world that's passing away,with its drab interiors, filing cabinets,teletexes.The security services are managing decline and denial.Oldman is excellent by understating his performance,avoiding tics,Guinness-imitations, with a hint of menace and steel,not weakened by his wife's adultery,but using it like a chess piece in the game of ruthlessness.I do feel the first 15 minutes put the new viewer at a loss as to what was going on,wonder who half the people are, what their relatio nship is to each other,what their motivation is.Too much material gets crammed in:Ricki Tarr and the Russian woman,Smiley and Karla,Jim Prideux in a caravan at a prep school with overweight boy. Alfredson has to juggle many balls in the air,using heroic compression via flash back.However the characters aren't as fully developed as in the TV series so their relationships,although complex were more clear.You need the extended running time of the TV series or previous knowledge of the book to fully grasp the story.At the end of it, I found that I liked it, but not as much as I had expected to.The book,TV and film are different mediums and give different experiences.Somehow,here there was a lack of dramatic tension and the unmasking of the mole is an anti-climax.Go and see the TV series and Guinness and then decide how potential moles only have a bit part,the lack of emotional impact at the end.This is a light sketch not a finished artefact.
By
Archer Books "Archer Books" (Dubai UAE) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
This 2011 Working Title Films production of Le Carre's 1974 novel 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' has attracted positive critical reviews, been generally (but not universally) liked by audiences, received some well-deserved award nominations and reportedly made a healthy box-office profit on its modest US$21 million production cost, so is an unexpected commercial success for the French investor StudioCanal.Director Tomas Alfredson has delivered a serious film for an intelligent audience, but due to the time-constraints of a single 120-minute feature film, the result necessarily compresses the story so much that you need to pay close attention. A comp lex plot full of intrigue, double-bluff and the slow revelation of characters' hidden motives through real-time action and flashbacks means if you know Le Carre's novel then you'll be better placed to enjoy the film on first time viewing; if you're unfamiliar with the source material, then seeing the film a second time might make for a more satisfying viewing experience as the number of characters and complexity of the plot can be a bit confusing on first pass. For those who do know the book, the screenplay differs from the novel's narrative in some major respects and (for no reason apparent) a couple of the names are changed: the result however is very true to Le Carre's novel in spirit and feel, and works as a piece of thoughtful absorbing cinema.All the cast deliver fine performances with Gary Oldman in superb form as the world-weary but calculating and highly intelligent George Smiley, who has been called out of forced retirement to carry out a discrete investigation to uncover a suspected Soviet mole operating at the highest level of `the circus', the inner core of the UK overseas intelligence service MI6. Oldman has become a fine mature actor and proves here that `less is more', dominating some of his scenes by sheer presence, often with sparse or even no dialogue.The 1970s period detail is pretty accurate with clothes, hairstyles, cars, interiors and the drab accoutrements of office life - paper files, tele-printers, manual typewriters, telephones, dreary furniture - setting the tone. There's not much color here, and the film's look is bleak and washed-out to reinforce the subject matter and the mood. The scenes set in Budapest and Istanbul look even bleaker and greyer than London.As already mentioned the film is true in spirit to Le Carre's 1974 novel, so is not natural Hollywood fodder. There is no `hero' (Smiley is a kind of anti-hero); all the characters are in some way flawed and none very sympathetic; there is little cinematic acti on, no gun battles, explosions or car chases. There is precious little humor, but it's not that kind of film. The few scenes of violence are brief and understated, casual and shocking but never dwelled on. The audience is invited to pay attention, to watch the characters closely, to listen to the dialogue and think. The duplicitous and closed world of the secretive cold war spying game is very well realised, and has little in common with the glamorous, fast-paced eye-candy of James Bond films.If you like your entertainment served on a plastic plate with fries and fizzy cola to wash it down, then maybe best steer clear of `Tinker Tailor'. This is a film for grown-ups, and a more sophisticated palette might better savor its subtle qualities.See if you can spot John Le Carre himself in a brief cameo role...
![Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n31k4o3hL.jpg._SL300_.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment