Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Haven't seen the original TV series with Alec Guiness. Although after watching the Film, it is now in my Amazon basket.
Excellent film, excellent cast and an excellent director. If the theatricals and action sequences of the Bourne trilogy, and Bond franchise is what you expect, then stay away. If you want to see exactly what espionage entails, then this is the film to watch. Be prepared to concentrate on the movie, and it reaps rewards. On to my third watch now, and it is still Excellent.

THE STORY:
At the height of the Cold War George Smiley has been forced out of the British Intelligence Service. However, his absence makes him the perfect agent to root out a mole within the Circus (MI6 HQ) who is powerful, highly placed and could be any of Smiley's former colleagues.

WHAT'S GOOD:
Truly intelligent films are a rarity these days (Hollywood seems happy to feed the sheep with loud, sparkly, star-studded nonsense - like 'Avatar') but here we have a masterpiece of subtlety and suspense, which leaves out car-chases, explosions and CGI robots and replaces them with tense conversations and suspicious looks. I also very much enjoyed revisiting the Cold War time period, as most recent thrillers focus on Middle-Eastern types with bombs or cyber terrorism, but here we are treated to some good old-fashioned spy-vs-spy intrigue. If you've read the cast list then you'll already be in no doubt that this film features some truly brilliant acting from its principle stars but special mention should be made of Gary Oldman's beautifully understated portrayal of George Smiley, flawlessly making his own of a character who was famously played by the great Alec Guinness.

WHAT'S BAD:
Well, it has to be admitted that this film is slow and is visually dull. This means that many people with short attention spans will find it boring and will probably be better off seeing what ridiculously noisy stuff Jason Bourne is up to these days. Personally, I know that the pace and washed-out colour palette are deliberate and therefore accepted their value to the movie as a whole.