Pay Attention!

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2012)

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole Ashland
This is as much of an action movie as a film about the Cold War could be. Directed in interlinking fashion (with a very dense story-arc) by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) and using one of the most well adapted screenplays of 2011 from a rather heavy novel from John le Carre (and also a 1979 British TV mini-series), "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is one of the more well orchestrated mystery/crime/spy drama's to come out of Britain in recent years. Containing a who's who of critically acclaimed English actors (maybe the British response to "New Year's Eve"); including Mark Strong (Kick-Ass), John Hurt (The Elephant Man, Midnight Express), Toby Jones (My Week With Marilyn), Colin Firth (The King's Speech), Tom Hardy (Warrior) and Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), this is a film that while well constructed, well acted and should win some kind of award for cinematography and set design (every nuance of this film reeks of 1970's Britain), may work more to confuse and turn off American audiences who are used to films with "Spy" in the title being drenched with high flying stunts, slickly choreographed shootouts and Tom Cruise.
Synopsis: The plot of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is very elaborate, so I am going to attempt to write a decipherable synopsis without confusing too many people or confusing myself. Set in the Cold War of the 1970's, the story centers around an old and weathered British Operative named George Smiley (Oldman), who upon the death of the head of British Intelligence, is forced to retire. When a hired Hit-man, by the name of Rickey Tarr (Hardy), brings it to the attention of the British Intelligence that a mole is thought to be working within the system and is undeniably a high ranking operative, Smiley is brought back to conduct a sort of internal investigation and flush out said mole. Like any well done who-done-it, this film effortlessly leads audiences through a veritable maze of a tension driven plot (like a subdued British game of Clue), only showing the viewer just enough to suspect to wrong person until the very end. And the final twist does work and is very much worth sitting through storytelling that is not only complex but also nonlinear (which will be the complaint by most who find fault with the movie). Suffice to say, there is no way anybody is going to understand every nuance, plot point or British slang code word in this film after seeing it just once, but that doesn't mean "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" doesn't have a quiet entertainment value, which will sneak up on you (if you like who-done-it espionage films that is).
Excellent performances: And my new found love affair with Tom Hardy's acting style continues, after seeing him in "Bronson", "Inception" then "Warrior", as he is excellent in his bit but very pivotal role in this film (and is sure to be bad-ass as Bane in the upcoming "The Dark Knight Rises"). Another performance of note comes from the ever brilliant but at times overlooked Toby Jones , who should not be looked over this time for his subtle and very smug supporting role as the Scot, Percy Allelne. But, as I said before, every actor does some fairly upstanding work here. The fact that Oldman is being lifted up so highly for his performance as Smiley this awards season is something of a mixed bag of emotions for me, because while he does do a respectable job as the protagonist here, he is pretty much really good in everything he does. His chameleon-like ability to become immersed in a plethora of roles, be it Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series or Lt. Jim Gordon in "The Dark Knight" or even as Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula" is magnificent, but in the end it is not his performance in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" that I didn't find award worthy, it is his character. Despite what many other critics may say, Oldman wasn't memorable here, plain and simple, hence not award worthy.
Final Thought: Filled with superb performances, although none are worthy of an Oscar nomination, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is an elaborate and very well constructed spy thriller, even with the lack of countless shootouts or highly James Bond-esque choreographed chases. To say this is more along the lines of a British (uber-complicated) "The Usual Suspects" would be a more accurate assessment. But viewer beware even though I enjoyed this picture, "Tinker Tailor Solder Spy" is a movie which will make one work for their entertainment. You have to pay attention for the entirety of the 127 minute runtime! So, if that last sentence just stopped you in your ADD tracks, then this will not be your cup of tea.
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