This is no 007

Rating: 8/10 (18 August 2013)

It's the 70's in the world of British Intelligence. One of their four senior operative is suspected to be a Russian mole. George Smiley codename Beggarman (Gary Oldman) was forced into retirement but brought back in to hunt down the mole. Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) is codenamed Tinker. Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) is Tailor. Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) is Soldier.
If 007 James Bond is the glitzy fanciful action hero spy in an unreal world, then John le Carré writes the exact opposite vision of the spy world. His is a murky, morally corrupt, unsatisfying world. And that's what we have here. The actors are beyond reproach. It's full of double speak, lies, and misdirections. Can they truly figure it all out? It's a great head scratching watch.