A thriller that thrills only half the time

Rating: 6/10 (19 June 2014)

So this is a good "who done it" Cold War thriller, but with some small changes it could've been GREAT. The cast is solid and it has a really interesting plot (especially if you're into espionage). Gary Oldman is very good (as expected) and there are very, very strong supporting roles. As an ensemble, the cast was very impressive.
The problem is the first half of this movie is just really way too slow, I mean just brutally so. As hard as I tried, I was battling staying awake while watching the first half. The director just spent way too much time detailing the monotonous activities around spies and the initial investigation that they completely lost me. I like my thrillers to be a little more upbeat and better paced (and by a little I mean A LOT).
The second half however really picks up and they are some really good, unexpected surprises as the mole is eventually uncovered. It's a little convoluted, but not much more so than your average film in the genre. It's a shame though; edit or cut out twenty minutes out the first half of this film and I think you have one of the best thrillers of 2011. Barring that, I recommend Margin Call instead.
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