Loads of Spoilers

Rating: 6/10 (30 March 2016)

This is a film about a man sent to investigate the identity of a senior member of the British secret service who is in the pocket of the Russians. The film looks great. This is a time before laptops so there is a lot of paperwork, smoking indoors, and suits done up to eleven. The atmosphere of the film is very good. There is a scene where Benedict Cumberbatch retrieves some files. Why he doesn't shove them down his trousers is anyones guess. There is an office party that keeps taking place filmed in what looks like a school hall where the words dress casually have never been muttered. There is also a school that has a very laid back recruitment system that enable's Mark Strong's character agent Jim Prideaux to batter a bird to death in front the class, live in a camper van on site, and allow the pupils to drive his car around on the playing field. Obviously this is a different era when senior intelligence officer's would go and take a dip in a pond on a rainy weekday instead of that swimming pool nonsense. Grime, red buses and telephone boxes, ashtrays, hard liquor, files, neglected corridors and ties are the predominant visual aspects. There is a world weary cynicism that hangs to the garments worn by most of the characters. There is even a scene at the end where an assignation takes place in broad daylight on the grounds of what looks like a school by a man who makes no attempt to disguise his identity. This is a film that really works but also has a lot of aspects that do not resonate with reality.