Welcome to the Circus

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2012)

This adaptation of John le Carre's book was interesting and somewhat dull at times. I do not generally like period films, but this one is somewhat of an exception. Let me just say to start out with that this was a long film and I was a little anxious to get it over with. If you are looking for the usual action scenes that normally come with these types of films, then you are going to be greatly disappointed. This was a more subtle film with a lot of whispering and back stabbing. The fact that they called their intelligence agency "the circus" was mildly amusing to me since that is the way I always think of any government agency. In my opinion the film was very slow to get started and there was a lot of jumping around and flash-backing, so there was no time to have your thoughts wonder or drift into a quick nap. It almost seemed like the director Tomas Alfredsen filmed a lot of little segments and then pasted them together like a collage. There was a sub-story in the film where Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) engages in a friendship with one of his young pupils. I remember thinking at the end of the film that they probably could have left that sub-story out. It did not play to the plot at all. I do have to tip my hat to Gary Oldman (George Smiley) who was very believable as the trench coat sudo-detective weaving in and out of the streets of London. This film definitely had that "independent film" feel to it. I found it interesting that John le Carre made a cameo appearance in the film. I guess he plans on being the next Alfred Hitchcock. The story of the film was very good, but I have to say that I miss the action. I am not sure if I was entertained by the film. It sort of made me feel like I was watching a docu-drama about the European Central Intelligence Agency of the early 70s. I think that if you are into slow-moving, however highly intelligent films then this is probably worth the price of a ticket. If you more of a "Bourne" action film person, then this might not be for you. As for me, I am the latter, so in saying that, I will not try to perpetrate a cover-up and I am going to give this film an amber light.