Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2012)

This film never came to local cinemas, but I thought it looked great, so when it came out to rent I got it straight out to watch. For anyone who doesn't know it's based on a John LeCare novel in which detective George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought out of semi-retirement by Control (John Hurt) to find the mole in the British government out of 5 liable suspects(Bill Haydon, played by Colin Firth, Roy Bland, played by Ciaran Hinds, Percy Alleline, played by Toby Jones, Toby Esterhase, played by David Dencik and Smiley himself). The film is exquisitely directed by Thomas Alfredson, who obviously knows LeCare's novel very well. It's a line up of an acclaimed Swedish director with a collection of the best British character actors, and it pays off. Smiley gets straight on with his investigation, being assisted by younger detective Peter Guillaum (Benedict Cumberbatch) and young apprentice Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy), who has recently returned to Britain after receiving information about the mole while being in Istanbul. The suspects themselves, are very one-dimensional, and aren't given very much time to shine. Despite this, I liked that by the end of the film, you are almost certain who the mole isn't, it turns of to be them. All the performances are strong, but for me Cumberbatch and Oldman carried the film. I've never seen Alec Guiness play anyone buy obi-wan Kenobi or Prince Feisal, but I imagine his shoes would be very hard to fill, but Oldman does it so well. Benedict Cumberbatch's character is the youngest main character, and gets all the cool ties and a Beatle's haircut. As they have said in proper reviews, TV's Sherlock is Smiley's Watson. Mark Strong also appears as a betrayed teacher who becomes a primary school teacher, a 2nd plot line which helps cut away from the heavy detective work. All in all, TTSS is a very powerful, well made and entertaining film which contains almost no guns (with the exception of one scene), blood, swearing or sex and is definitely a DVD purchase for me. The ending of the film is perhaps my favourite part, and sets it up nicely for a sequel film, which Oldman said he would be interested in making. Can't wait!