Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

As some one who enjoyed the Bourne films, but recognises them as a completely different form of spy thriller to the older generations, I was enthused to learn that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was coming around for another turn at bat and went in with wide eyes full of hopeful wonder. Could this film change the face of modern day spy thrillers and, in turn, provide a solid two hours of entertainment?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, adapted from the novel of the same name from John le Carre, is a spy film entrenched in Cold War England, following the retired George Smiley who is forcibly returned to service to root out a Soviet mole within his old organization, MI6. The film follows predictable turns and oft used tropes to slide through its 127 minute run time which feels long and daunting throughout.

Tinker Tailor is sold as a Thriller and yet holds little to justify that branding, the film is one of the slowest of memory and plods through long drawn out scenes of feebly placed dialogue to excruciating filler with nothing but ambient noise. The films silence is accentuated by the long scenes placed solely on the shoulders of “Smiley” as he works through the case piece by piece. Tom Hardy joins the crew as the apparent point man Ricki Tarr, although is portrayed as little more than a love lorne youth who yearns for his forsaken girlfriend, held captive by the enemy. Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds and David Dencik fill out the suspect pool, although the film obviously frames the guilty party from the get go and never deviates enough to dra suspicion to other parties. Mark Strong rounds out the cast as Jim Prideaux, an agent betrayed by the mole who is sent in to hiding to protect the secret he knew all along.

The one shining light of the film is Gary Oldman who plays George Smily perfectly, his slow and drawing performance leaves you with a hint of respect for a man who was pushed out of service and yet still holds a sharpened edge amongst his peers. Oldman brings Smiley from the page perfectly and plays with the different roles the character is forced to portray throughout, as investigator and eventual captor of the double agent.

Tinker Tailor is renowned as one of the seminal pieces of Spy fiction from the last fifty years and yet in the hands of Tomas Alfredson (Director) and Peter Straughen (Screenplay) the film is little more than a black mark on an otherwise intriguing literary era. The film comes across as a mediocre story that adds characters and twists in for no apparent reason and without the big finish viewers are left with little more than an anti climactic end that was obvious from the start. There is no big build up, no crescendo as Smiley breaks the case and brings in his man, rather, the film remains steady throughout and hardly breaks from its own drawl from revelation to credits.

The book adds a whole host of different characters in to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and gives good justification for each, fleshing out why and how they’re involved in a larger conspiracy that runs right throughout the organization. The film adds the same characters in and gives no explanation as to why, putting characters on screen than only add to the confusion because no reason is given for their presence, other than some haphazard and lazily placed flashbacks that come from nowhere and run inexplicably long. Straughan, it seems, tried to bring the book straight to film without angering fans but has done little more than hit a top limit on his run time and just stopped and without the adjustment for what a film could allow it feels shallow and undeserving of the name. The film is probably worth seeing even if it is just for Gary Oldman’s performance but don’t go in expecting something epic and ranging that will draw your interest.