Good but just a touch disappointed

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2011)

I have seen the original on many occasions so there are bound to be comparisons in my own mind. However the Alec Guinness-led version has much longer to expand the characters so that must always be taken into account.
The most important factor is whether you would recommend someone to go and see this film and the answer is a definite yes. So what of the film are the best and the not-so-brilliant? Excellent were Gary Oldman, as good as Guinness and less frustrating in his meekness and Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr. Very good were the rest of the cast, with the exception of Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Graham.
These fine actors are obviously perfectly capable, but were. for me miscast. Cumberbatch was far too young for Peter Guillam, the man who "ran" Ricki Tarr as his boss, underlined by the fact he is only one year older in "real-life" and comfortably looked it. The last time I saw Stephen Graham was as Billy Bremner in The Damned United and with his scouser accent it just did not work for me in the role he was given.
Unfortunately the climax to the film when the "mole" is revealed was over in a flash and there were times in the film where we spent longer watching the pouring out a glass of whisky or the many silences to music.
The Director also failed completely to give us even the remotest idea as to why the "mole" had served his Soviet masters for so long and betrayed his country and colleagues, sending people to their death. The late scene including the traitor and Oldman promised to do so but then ended, again far too quickly. The film was unbalanced with a slow start and a rather speedy conclusion.
That been said it was a good film, but I have to say that I was just a touch disappointed. I was hoping for better and the reaction of the small audience when I viewed the film, upon the end was a bit like "is that it"? I have given the film 8/10 but it could easily have been a 7 mark and viewers would do well to concentrate hard or else they will in trouble following the plot. There are so many short scenes that quickly move on. Hence the inability of the director to allow most of the character's profiles to be made better known to the audience, who would then find the end scenes more satisfactory as a result.
I would suggest another Director is given the opportunity to work on the Smiley's People follow-up, with Oldman in place and definitely a new Peter Guillam.