Well-made movie, but the plot wasn't as good as you think it will be

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2012)

I think the cinematography and acting made the movie seem more intellectual than it was. I never read the book, but unlike others, I was still able to understand the movie. I don't think it was intellectually challenging because of the plot's depth, but from a lack of explanation and splicing elements from the entire time line in random order. Some scenes, like the main investigator, Smiley, wading in a pond outside, were never explained or integrated into the plot.
I had a hard time understanding some of the plot, not because it was too complex, but because it didn't make sense. To recap, Ricki Tarr is sent from the British Intelligence Agency (the Circus) to investigate a Russian guy Boris on a routine job, who is really just a sort of Soviet decoy. Ricki Tarr falls in love with Boris' 'wife' Irene who happens to be a Soviet operative. Firstly, why would the Soviets send a Soviet operative with this kind of sensitive information along with a decoy? Tarr finds out that there is a spy in the Circus from Irene, which is the mother load of all mother loads - yet, he doesn't keep Irene in a safe place (she gets caught, tortured, killed), he simply sends it by wire to anyone who will receive it at the Intelligence Agency, where he knows the spy is. Tarr, "I know there's a spy somewhere in the Intelligence Agency,so I'll send a wire to the Intelligence Agency letting them know." Then, the record of that wire was removed from the books alerting Smiley, the future investigator of all this, that there really is a spy. But, what motivation did the spy have to remove that from the books? It was sent by wire, everyone knows it was sent, but the spy risks confirming the validity of the claim by removing the record of the wire? But, after the Circus are aware that there is a spy, a guy by the name of Jim Prideaux is sent by the Circus' ringleader to learn the name of the spy from a Soviet general willing to sell the info. When you find out there's a spy, you find the name of the spy by paying a willing person on the opposing side, easy stuff, not exactly mind bending. This would have solved the mystery, and the movie would have been over. So, Jim Prideaux does one last thing before he goes to find out the name of the spy in the Circus, he tells his best friend in the Circus, Haydon!... Why not? They're friends, I mean you can tell that because they're both smiling in a picture together at one point. And I'm sure they watched Winston Churchill on the TV all the time, too. Too bad Haydon was the spy. I guess that's what happens when you tell your friend who has a 20% chance of being a spy that you're going to find out if he's a spy. Of course Prideaux did this because he subconsciously was trying to save Haydon, hmmmm. Haydon tells the Soviets about Prideaux and they grab him and torture him. Then, for some reason, he is presumed dead because he was shot once. A few months later he withdraws money in one of his code names. Later on this will alert Smiley that he's still alive. Now Smiley is getting smart! The twists and turns aren't too complex. Some of the Circus is restructured after this 'fiasco' where one agent is killed, Smiley is let go, and other people are fired. The people who are at the top now are people who have established a name for themselves by creating project Witchcraft, an organization that trades sensitive information about each others countries under the auspices of being double agents, but are actually triple agents? Apparently everyone gives up on trying to find the spy at this point. So to recap, Tarr learned of a spy, they send an agent to find the spy's name, that agent is killed, and they give up after that. Time passes, and Smiley is brought in to investigate the people fired around that time. Smiley is actually a suspect himself because he worked at the Circus when all this happened, so why did they have him investigate? He learns what I've just said through interviewing people. Then he has an idea that project Witchcraft is not just a place where we give 'chicken feed' Intel in exchange for incredible Intel, it's where the spy from the Circus gives 'chicken tenders' or real deal Intel. I don't how he got that idea. Once he thinks that the home where project Witchcraft is located is the place where the Circus spy gives sensitive Intel to the Soviets, he does the old, feed them Intel and wait for the spy to transmit the Intel. To me, the plot wasn't too deep. Someone finds out there's a spy, they send an agent to find the spies name, that doesn't work because the agent happened to tell the spy before he went and found out the spy's name. The new investigator feeds intelligence and waits where he thinks the spy exchanges information. I feel like the story is aggrandized by the cinematography, atmospheric England, acting (though I expected more). The plot was a little thin, had holes, didn't introduce anything new. Maybe that's why they had to make it difficult to follow, to hide the imperfections.
I still can't help but like the movie. It was a mental exercise to follow the plot, which gave me the same kind of enjoyment I get from playing Sudoku. I'm a fan of some of the actors. I really liked the locations - the smoky party room, the odd orange padded walls of the intelligence agency. The director took his time with the movie. I think between him and the actors, the movie still worked.