Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy Movie Review

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy

I’m not an expert in movie critiquing but I do expect certain things out of the movies I pay money and spend time watching. That being said, I want to get something out of the movie, whether it is a laugh or a tear or heart-rending emotions. On a side note, going to the theater has always been a treat for me, and so I enjoy the whole theater experience, the sound, the people, the popcorn, the previews of upcoming movies. Even now, it is a treat for me to go to the movies and this movie is the first since last August.

This movie centers around an older retired British spy, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), during the cold war era sent on a secret mission to find a double agent in the British Secret Service and something called a “Circus” which after doing some research is the British Intelligence Agency. (Though I didn’t catch that innuendo.)   The movie introduces each agent who is suspected of being the mole one by one. And the retired agent has to figure out who the mole is without access to information or giving it away that he is looking for someone.  

The Good:

The acting was fairly well done. I realize now that they made the movie very realistic. At first, I thought that the lighting and settings and cinematic qualities were horrible, but after thinking about it, the movie is set in the 1970s. There was a lot of social turmoil and the world was a dreary, bleak world. Or at least that’s how most literature and movies portray the era of the Cold War. It just didn’t cross my mind at first . On that note, the setting, lighting and realistic qualities rose above the average.  We know that the director did his homework about that era.

I changed my mind about the acting after thinking about it and watching some clips again. The actors did a very nice job. They portrayed the characters very well, particularly Gary Oldman.  I like him as an actor and I think he did a good job portraying Smiley.

The Bad:

Not giving the audience enough hints is a big minus. We need to know the characters. Although it doesn’t necessarily have to be through dialogue. The code names were confusing and not knowing who is who is another big minus.  They didn’t develop the characters to where a general audience could follow the storyline. The audience needs more back-story and the director has to do that without giving away everything. The characters could have been more developed with what they said (or didn’t say).  I think the direction fell short on that note. ,I don’t feel like I know the characters well afterwards. Being an English major, I like getting to know the characters in a story, whether it be film or novel. The movie moved slowly for me but at the same time there was too much happening at once.  There were too many “empty” scenes where Smiley is just walking from one place to another or another character is just walking along. Some are okay in a fast-paced movie, it gives the audience time to breathe. Too much in a movie like this makes you want to say “Is it over yet??” . I wanted the movie to be over halfway through it. The sound quality could have been better. The theater was loud at some points during the movie and it was a little overwhelming.

I don’t particularly care for movies that make the audience figure out everything themselves. While it does work for some movies like Sherlock Holmes, for instance the audience is engaged and you have to be the detective . It just didn’t work for this one. There weren’t enough clues for the audience and on top of that there is so much going on that it is hard to pick up on the ones they do give. Or maybe it would work better if I had a rewind button?  But I don’t know if I could sit through it again or if I would want to.

On a scale of one to ten, I give this movie a two. I didn’t understand the plot going into it and I didn’t understand the plot coming out of it. There needs to be some clarity, that’s the point of spending millions of dollars to put it on the big screen. While the actors were fairly well known such as Colin Firth I recognized from the recent Downton Abbey series and Gary Oldman from the Batman Begins and The Dark Knight movie and as Sirius Black in three Harry Potter movies. Patrick Stewart from Star Trek, of course. Benedict Cumberbatch I recognized from the new BBC series Sherlock, in which he plays Sherlock.

I can see this movie as a very good novel, however. And apparently it is a super-seller written by John LeCarre. It is the first of a trilogy of novels. Some novels cannot be adapted well into movies so that the audience gets the same emotional ending as in a novel. I feel like we missed a whole lot knowing that this was a very large novel turn into a six-hour miniseries and then condensed to a two-hour movie. Sometimes novels can do things that movies just cannot, like give the reader details, even  subtle details I would rather read a book that I didn’t enjoy more than one time to catch the details I missed than watch a movie. It is harder to find those details in a movie because they move faster. Maybe this movie was only meant for a certain audience?

(2011 edition)

Audiences want to know what is going on; they want to be able to follow the plot enough to understand.  They don’t want to be dragged through the movie like a kid being dragged through a grocery store. There are better things I could have spent my six dollars on, like, say dinner. No offense to the actors; good actors, bad movie. I’m no expert, but these are my opinions, and I’ll stick to them.

(Even this reviewer seems like he was lost too!)

I was lost from beginning to end. I didn’t take anything from it. I must’ve missed the themes, though I’m sure they are there. But I’m not so sure it would be worth my time to watch it again. Maybe I went in expecting too much, maybe I just completely missed all the major points. Either way, I felt it was a waste of two precious hours and six precious dollars and I wouldn’t recommend it no matter if it is an Oscar nominated or not.