Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Posted by Matt at 20:30 on 13 Sep 2011 Reviews A-Z

As much as I would like to believe that real-life spies jet around the world using their blow-dart pens and laser watches to prevent megalomaniacs from stealing Fiji, this film is probably closer to the truth. John Le Carré’s double agent vision (based on his own experiences working for the intelligence services) tells a less dynamic tale of political decisions, uneasy alliances and lots of sizing people up. And instead of a simple mission involving a casino, a volcano lair and a henchmen fight, this authentic spy-work is complicated as fuck.

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3 comments.

Posted by neophyte at 15:32 on 03/02/12

Really, are 50% of spies really gays? C'mon.

Posted by Nick at 19:01 on 01/02/12

I have admiration for anyone who can write a review on this. It's solid, it's the most solidly solid film I've seen in ever, like reading The Communist Manifesto if it was inscribed on a very grey granite wall.
Well acted, well written, slow, political, precise and minimalist. It's more a film you'll enjoy once it's finished than while you're watching. My only issue (and naturally an issue I have with the book too) is that the spy really could have been any of them and I couldn't specify why it was HIM, other than maybe vanity.

Posted by keyser_soze at 21:53 on 19/09/11

Ive visited the cinema to watch two films this week, this and 'the change up'

sadly one made me wish i stayed home and it wasnt the terribly predictible bromance gone wrong!

Yes Oldman is a great actor, i just think his Drexl is a little more engrossing than his blank spy routine. Saying that Oldman obviously brings more to the character than is obvious as his underacting is probably as good as anyones, i find it hard to see this film being anywhere near entertaining without Oldman, Hardy and Strong, whilst the camera work is perfect for the 70's theme as is the whole make up of the film..

i just found it far far tooo slow, and i never got into it enough to really care who the mole was, the climatic ending wasnt what it could have been and left me feeling completely underwhelmed, for me the film didnt flow well enough to really keep me entertained and lost me pretty early on...

the change up however is great, not only did the toilet humour keep me laughing out loud, it actually made me think a little mor than tinker, tailer and the questuons asked of the characters are infinitely for relatable to me, comparing any two films is hard enough, but two films with such opposite themes and genre is impossible, that said 'The Change up' was far and away more entertaining....sorry i really had high hopes for Tinker Tailor, probably too high, all this Oscar talk set the bar too high, and set it up for a fall...