Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I've thought long and hard about how to start this review but for some reason I can't seem to find the words to say what I want to say about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Based on the novel by John le Carré, the film follows Smiley (Gary Oldman – better know to a younger audience for his role in Nolan's Batman series) as he is recalled to the Intelligence Service to help track down a suspected Soviet mole in the upper-echelons of the organisation. As Smiley delves deeper into the mystery, it soon becomes apparent that the enemy is very close to home.

There are a few main points about the film that I want to make. Firstly, the acting is first-class, with a cast that shines so brightly that it would put a Colgate advert to shame. The mixture of British cinema veterans such as John Hurt and Colin Firth with relative newcomers such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy worked fantastically well and Oldman's performance as a controlled, suave and refined Smiley is surely an Oscar contender. The film is wonderfully shot, using a very restricted, washed-out palette (by no means a bad thing) which adds atmosphere and, at the same time, makes the whole thing terribly classy. The stylish framing and intuitive cutting showed how someone had sat down and really thought about what they wanted to create, instead of the confused mishmash of shots so often used in mainstream blockbusters. The production values were, as to be expected, very high and the attention to detail was superb leading to the creation of a tense and taut atmosphere where the acting could really take centre stage. The costumes were impeccable, the detailing reminiscent of the hit US TV drama Mad Men, as were the sets which evoked a by-gone era in British history which could have been drastically different. In terms of the aesthetics and feel of the film, it is certainly a stand-out film of the year so far.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is totally unlike the usual, run-of-the-mill spy thrillers and this was a refreshing change. Instead of urban shoot-outs, high-tech covert surveillance and more car chases than your average episode of Road Wars, most of the action took place in the dialogue and exchanges between the characters (sounds dull I know, but trust me) and the result is a thriller which is intellectually, as well as visually, stimulating in the same manner as films such as Michael Clayton and Inception. The fact that not every other scene was a bare-knuckle fight or a violent chase sequence meant that the acts of violence which punctuated the plot were all the more shocking and all the more effective. And now, I hear you ask, why did I start my review by saying I couldn't articulate my thoughts about the film? I'll tell you.

As I walked out of the cinema, running over what I had just seen and trying to think about what I would write, it suddenly dawned on me why I was finding it so difficult. I was totally apathetic towards the whole thing. I was not emotionally involved with the characters or their plight. The denouement had as much effect on me as jumping out of an aeroplane which is still on the runway and I found myself not really caring about the vast majority of the characters. Whether this was due to the lack of character arcs or an over-complicated plot, I'm not sure but towards the end I gave up trying to understand who-was-doing-what-to-whom-and-why-but-no-he-did-that-to-her-or-was-it-his-fault-but-where-does-she-come-in...?! In short, something didn't grab me. Please don't think that I'm saying this is a bad film: it's not. Maybe on a second viewing something will click. But my overwhelming feeling towards the film is that it's like central heating – on a technical level it's brilliant, but you don't have any emotive feelings towards it. It's just there. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is just there. It exists. And you know what...that's fine by me.

Clapperboard Rating: * * *