The premise is hard to fit into two hours and into this sort of plot-structure

Rating: 5/10 (16 December 2012)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a movie adapted from one of the best Cold War era crime novels, with the same title with a slight difference: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy". When you put commas as they appear on the 1974 novel cover, you get to understand that a tinker is a spy, a tailor is a spy, and a soldier also is a spy. And when you think of it, you get to ask yourself this question:
"Why would a tinker turns a spy, and a tailor, and a soldier too?"
Take a guess to answer the question above. 'Cause if you don't, the movie, which is terribly directed, won't tell you what the spies are trying to find out. Here is the truth after the unknown. The truth lies underneath a tongue twister game Children of the Cold War in Britain used to play. The tongue twister is this, as it appears on the prologue of John le Carré 's novel:
"Tinker... Tailor... Soldier... Sailor... Rich... Poor... Beggar... Robber, take the sea-shells and take the jacket buttons, trade in daisy leaves and trade in sunflower seeds, now you did, we are friends, we are friends, we are friends"
While reading the novel, which is consisted of 42 episodes, 7 episodes for each occupation from the children's tongue twister and there are 6 pieces in the game of Chess. 7 times 6 equals to 42. When you pair them with each other, you get to solve the mystery:
Chess pieces from highest rank to the lowest rank: "King... Queen... Rook... Bishop... Knight... Pawn"
Let's pair them: "Tinker is King... Tailor is Queen... Soldier is Rook... Sailor is Bishop... Rich is Knight... Poor is Pawn"
When Bishop(Gary Oldman as Smiley) explores the Rook(John Hurt as Control)'s chess board with the names and photos of his subordinates(Knight and Pawn), even Smiley didn't know that he was the Bishop. And when the Knight(Mark Strong as Prideaux) is assassinated, what should the Rook do next? That's what the movie is about.
Since the promise is a heavy secret, which both the screenwriters and the director hides away from the audience, to fit the story into this sort of plot-structure ; then you don't have much to tell.
John le Carré 's novel is one of the best boring novels I've ever read in my life, even though it has a unique mystery. Yes, it's a mystery, but in fact there is nothing happening at the present time. It's just all thoughts and ideas about the events in the past, in order to find the mole that destroys the organization's plans. Should every crime story necessarily be involved with a mole?
So, don't expect nothing original to find, when you're watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, except some unique production aspects as follows:
1- Unpredictable hero 2- No bad guy to challenge against 3- An unrevealed secret turns good guys into bad guys 4- Suspicion, kills! 5- Spectacular views from some European cities, the shots from the city of Istanbul are the most accurate ones(except the Hotel shot) after other hit movies such as Eastern Promises, James Bond: From Russia With Love and a Jackie Chan comedy/crime flick
If you really want a good crime/thriller/mystery watch Robert De Niro and Matt Damon 's The Good Shepherd(2006), since in this specific genre and sub-genre mix no better movies filmed yet.