The changes from the novel version didn't help

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2012)

This is an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I loved the cinematography and the acting was superb. To fully review all of these points you would have to write an article that would be too long for this review.
What I want to write about though are the changes from the novel-Version. And I don't refer to the fact that George Smiley was always described as a little overweight...
The Scene, in which Smiley refers to his encounter with the Soviet head of intelligence was explicitly narrated in the novel, whereas in the movie version, it was just a short narration of Gary Oldman. Although the movie generally uses lots of flashbacks, this is where I really missed it! (Although it is great that you never see the antagonist...this could have been achieved differently).
Other more substantial changes have been made to the story of Jim Prideux (Mark Strong) that did in my opinion not help the movie-version. It even left out a lot of action-scenes which could have made the movie a little more thrilling. I get it that this is not supposed to be a James-Bond clone, but you kind of expect a little action in a Spy-Thriller, don't you? Although it is possible that by my high expectations (I really loved the novel) prevented me from making up a balanced opinion, I was a little disappointed. Nevertheless, if I had not read the novel I doubt that I would have understood it completely on first viewing...
In conclusion, it is still an excellent movie, but it should have stuck a little closer to the novel.