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Reviews > Movie Reviews > Tinker Tailor Soldier…

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Review
12 Sep 2011
Critics rating: 4 stars out of 5
Reviewed by Darren Bignell , LOVEFiLM
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Sometimes, good things come to those who wait...

George Smiley has led a quiet, if distinguished, career. A studious man of grey, he has acquitted himself diligently, but without showiness, excitement or self-promotion.

Cast details

Until now, when he’s suddenly thrust into the spotlight, all eyes upon him – vital, visible, vulnerable.

Almost the exact reverse journey of Gary Oldman, in fact. The man who fills Smiley’s worn trenchcoat has a slate of explosive, showy roles on his CV. But here, the screams and vitriol of Dracula, Beethoven, Sid Vicious, Sirius Black, and countless lunatic cops & villains fall silent: the quiet man cometh.

In the frigid depths of the Cold War, there’s a mole at the top of the Circus. Which, to us Muggles, means that there’s a spy in MI6, the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service. High up. Well hidden. Feeding critical info back to the Soviet Union.

Smiley’s just been shelved – along with Control (John Hurt), his boss and mentor – but is dramatically recalled to go mole-hunting. Set a spy to catch a spy.

The finger of suspicion points to one of five men, all powerful and connected. Control had codenamed them Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poorman and Beggarman, cherry-picking references from the children’s rhyme. And so Smiley’s dangerous game begins.

Adapting one of John Le Carre’s layered and much-loved spy novels for feature film release is perhaps as tricky as Smiley’s own challenge – hard to hit all the right notes, easy to miss the target, pitfalls galore. Perhaps all the more surprising, then, that the job went to Tomas Alfredson on his English language debut.

Colin Firth

But Alfredson knows all about atmosphere – his Let The Right One In is a stunning, creeping achievement of nuance and subtlety, and here again he tells a story through looks and hints and what’s not being said.

Loading his cast with stellar British talent is a smart move – everyone from smooth Colin Firth, ruthless Toby Jones, field agents Mark Strong and Tom Hardy, to Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciaran Hinds, Kathy Burke and Stephen Graham revel in the material.

And Alfredson makes careful use of Peter Straughn & Bridget O’Connor’s screenplay, which deftly weaves flashback and character development with moments of revelation and abrupt action, all at an absorbing, calculated pace.

In one of the most restrained performances of his life, Oldman is arguably at his most impressive.

In truth, George Smiley is not far removed from Gotham detective Jim Gordon – both are calm, painstaking and fiercely observant, and Oldman instills each man with a well of intelligence: still waters running very deep indeed.

In one of the most restrained performances of his life, Oldman is arguably at his most impressive. Stoic but not unfeeling, he’s a lead rod at the centre of this compelling story: treading softly but hitting hard in a period espionage movie that, in the current global climate, seems both a world apart and sharply relevant.

And as Oldman disappears behind the thick lenses of Smiley’s all-seeing specs, you have to ask: is that something reflected in them? A tiny flash of something gold, perhaps? The gleam of a polished statuette…?

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