I Was Bored Almost From Start To Finish

Rating: 2/10 (6 February 2012)

Yes, this gets off to a somewhat promising start, with the shooting of the intelligence agent in Budapest. Yes, there's an attempt to keep the viewer interested as we try to untangle the mystery of who the mole is. Yes, there's a Russian agent high up in British Intelligence. The problem is that between the shooting and the revelation of the mole's identity, there's very little here that holds your attention. It's an unfair stereotype I know, but this movie fits the stereotypes of Brits perfectly (and I'm of British descent, so ...) - dull, staid, not especially emotional, rather deliberate and always quite proper. The problem is that the stereotype doesn't make for a good movie. There's uninspiring dialogue, a story that meanders just too much and loses you in the process, and - to be honest - not a single performance in this really stood out to me as outstanding, or even as notable, making Gary Oldman's Oscar nomination for Best Actor inexplicable.
This also goes down as one of those annual mysteries about why certain movies receive Best Picture nominations. I can only assume that because they have to nominate so many now, a few duds are inevitably going to slip through. This was one. (2/10)