Oldman Terrible In Dismal Movie

Rating: 3/10 (18 November 2012)

Why do producers do remakes of excellent previous movies? All they can do is screw it up. TTSS is another example. It is a very dismal version of the much better series. I mean dismal literally, in like the photography is dark and grainy. Like most remakes, they simply don't understand what made the original so effective.
I knew it would be bad when I heard that Gary Oldman would play George Smiley. And I was right. Oldman is completely wrong for the part. George Smiley is an tired-looking, older , overweight man who looks as harmless as a fly, all the while disguising his razor mind. Oldman looks like trim 50 year old business man. The script doesn't help him since he has barely a word to say and Oldman simply isn't a good enough actor to communicate with the audience nonverbally through gesture and attitude.
The movie also has virtually no character development. You never learn a thing about any of the 5 possible spys. Connie Sachs has been almost completely written out of the story. There are huge gaps in the story. Prideaux is shot and assumed dead. He then reappears with no explanation, until much later. The movie shift back and forth in time with no warning and it is often hard to tell which time period is being portrayed. I'm sure some people think this artsy. I just found it confusing.
The biggest problem with the movies it it misses the point of the original. This is a story about betrayal: a man betrays his country and also his best friend. Which betrayal is greater? In the original, it's the personal betrayal that carries the power and moves the viewer. This remake so completely misses this that the key relationship in the story between Prideaux and Haydon is barley mentioned.
In sum, this movie is two hours of empty atmosphere. It doesn't understand whst the story is really about. It haspoorly developed characters, almost no story with large gaps, and a very weak ending compared to the way it plays out in the original series and book.