Tries too hards to be different and looses the plot

Rating: 4/10 (9 January 2012)

After reading a number of the reviews and comments film the overriding impression is one of confusion from all but a few reviewers, who treat the rest with disdain (downright contempt on the part of certain).
If you have read the book, or watched the 1979 TV series starring Alec Guinness, then the confusion is lessened but replaced with annoyance with the director for his treatment of a past classic. It seems that in his determination not to remake the TV series Tomas Alfredson has modified characters and changed the sequence of events (or at least the moment in the story where things are revealed to the audience) to such an extent that he has created confusion where there should be none.
The plot of the novel is tortuous (necessarily so given the subject) and Mr. Alfredson has only two hours in which to tell it, however this is no excuse for playing fast and loose with the time-line, the location of events, and the characters to such an extent that final work bears only a passing resemblance to the original story.
The relationship between Smiley and Karla, which runs through all the Smiley novels and is extremely important to understanding Smiley reactions, is completely lost in this film. Karla appears to be just another kleptomaniac Russian spy-master who nicks cigarette lighters!
The death of Prideaux is a further example of Alfredson's clunky departures from the novel. Alfredson storyline requires that Smiley "find" Prideaux, though in the novel Smiley never "lost" him. Contrary to the novel, we are deliberately given the impressions that "Prideaux" was killed and then later we are allowed to discover that he was brought back to the UK secretly. How, as Control's second in command at the time of the "Hungarian fiasco" (Control's resignation follows this event), could Smiley not be aware that Prideaux actually survived? Last, but by no means least, why is it necessary that Peter Guillam become homosexual? It is not in the novel and adds nothing to the storyline. Is Alfredson trying to be all inclusive?
I recommend that you read the novel and (if you can find a copy) watch the 1979 series; both are infinitely better than this film.