Review of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) by Paul D — 03 Jul 2017

Beautifully scored, well-acted and nicely shot film but, for me, it was style over substance- I'm not a fan of the spy genre I must say and this one provides some examples as to why.

The issue really is the story- I'm a huge fan of the Constant Gardiner and so I'm not taking issue with Le Carre here, but the story here is falsely convoluted i.e. it tries to seem complex and difficult but when all is said and done, it's fairly simple. This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that so little is teased from the story each time here- it's slowly squeezed out and begins to drain life from the film before ultimately being a bit disappointing when all is said and done. It's tough to follow and, actually, not really worthwhile because your first guess was probably spot on. It feels like a story that should have been kept in a book- some things just don't transition well.

However, if you enjoyed the story then, aside from the slow-pacing, there's not much else to take issue with here. In that sense it lives up to its cast and crew- the problem for me is really just the script. There's enough here though, even with me not being a fan of the genre, and with this being a prime example as to why, there's still a shedload of interesting elements, even if the film itself feels more bland than anything else.