Slow footed but well acted

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2012)

Well of course it's literate - it's a John le Carré book. Where the book moved at the rate one associates with planet formation in the solar system, the movie manages to speed things up. That is, ever so slightly.
While the movie goes it's own way in rejecting much back-story, the editing mimics a degree of the time shifting style of the book. Yet transitions are poorly placed and you wonder if you merely fell asleep and missed a bit, which is possible, than witnessed brilliant editing. The story simply isn't all that engrossing. Smiley is brought in and assembles a team to look for a mole in the "circus."
Thats about it. Few surprises and the plot, while edgy in the 1970s, now has been done over a few times even by reality in the form of Aldrich Ames. The cloak and dagger bits are few and far between, though action is appropriately brutal and well timed. The second half is far better than the first.
Performance wise, the cast is peerless. To name a few, Firth, Hardy, Oldman and Mr Holmes himself, Benedict Cumberbatch give every ounce of credibility you need for serious jobs like this. Yet, there's still something missing. While this takes a vote above disappointments like Breach or The Good Shepherd, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy feels like a dusty old overcoat. Sneakers from 1992 was more comic, less authentic, but more interesting and a better spy movie.
Good, not great. Saved by the acting and worth a rent.