Movie Review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, and Mark Strong 

Directed by Tomas Alfredson

Man, this British spy flick is the kind of movie that tries its very best to make its viewers feel dumb.  In the end, I don't think ("think" being the operative word here) I misunderstood Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but I certainly didn't get anything out of it either.  There's a story here...one much simpler than the convoluted mess onscreen would have you believe.  In early 1970s Britain, the British secret service has been infiltrated by a traitor who is working for the Russians, stealing information and delivering it to the Soviets.  It's up to George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to figure out which of his co-workers is the mole.  The problem here is that this tale is told so mundanely that it's tough to get involved with anything taking place onscreen.  When the film's climactic moment -- the reveal of the spy -- is relegated to a small throwaway shot, I think I literally threw up my hands in disgust.  I waited two hours for that?!?!

Tomas Alfredson's film looks great as if it were made in the very 1970s it so creatively depicts.  The costumes and set direction are spot on and the cinematography is gorgeous at many moments.  Alfredson always manages to create beautiful things to look at and is quite the master here and composing an appealing visual display, but that can't hide the fact that the film feels like it goes nowhere (although it certainly saves the film from being an all-out disaster).  While I don't need my spy dramas to be all Bourne Identity in terms of pace (in fact, I'd rather they not be filled with the freneticism of the Bourne series), there's got to be some semblance of either action or tension and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has neither.

It's a shame, really, because in addition to the lovely visual aesthetics, the cast of British men is quite good, although a few of them seemed to find themselves wallowing in boredom without any twinge of life in them.  Oldman is fine (but I found his role lacking any type of character arc and rather one-notey although he played that note very well), as is Benedict Cumberbatch who plays his protégé of sorts.  But I can't shake the fact that I feel like this talented cast wasn't given much to do, and what they were given to do, they were directed to act as stern and emotionless as possible.

Without a doubt, this will likely be the lowest rated film to land on any of my RyMickey Awards lists for 2011 (which, knowing me, likely won't start up until after the Oscars roll around) thanks to the look of the piece, but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a movie that simply shouldn't have been made.  While there's maybe something there with which to create a story, it simply wasn't done in a way that works in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+