Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy excels in the acting category, and more specifically an excellent performance from Gary Oldman, but the story doesn’t hold as much water as I’d hoped.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Suspense, Drama
Universal | R – 128 min. – $34.98 | March 20, 2012
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Writer(s): John le Carre (novel); Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan (screenplay)
Cast: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong
Theatrical Release Date: December 9, 2011 (limited), January 6, 2012 (wider)
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Interviews, Deleted Scenes, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1), French (DTS 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Disc Size: 44.7 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C (unconfirmed)
THE MOVIE – 3.5/5
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is based the hit book of the same name and was also put on the small screen as a Swedish mini-series starring Alec Guinness and now marks its debut as a feature film starring Gary Oldman in Guinness’ role as George Smiley. Having not seen the mini-series nor read the novel, I cannot make any judgments on how they compare, but based on this two-hour movie, this is not a movie for everybody as it does take plenty of patience to wade through some confusing plotlines and characters.
The film takes place in the heat of the 1970s Cold War and opens on a man known only as Control (JOHN HURT), the head of an organization known as “Circus” (a.k.a. MI6). He’s enlisted spy Jim Prideaux (MARK STRONG) to uncover a mole he’s certain has infiltrated the Circus. Upon meeting a contact in Hungary but is ambushed and is shot in the back as he tries to flee. Due to the blown operation, Control, along with right hand man George Smiley (GARY OLDMAN), are forced out with Percy Alleline, for which Control code-named Tinker (TOBY JONES), taking over the head position. Bill Haydon (COLIN FIRTH), code-named Tailor, becomes Alleline’s deputy while Roy Bland (CIARAN HINDS), code-named Soldier, and Toby Esterhase (DAVID DENCIK) as allies in the organization. After leaving, and already being ill, Control dies of natural causes.
Soon after, Smiley is called out of retirement to investigate an allegation by agent Ricki Tarr (TOM HARDY) that there is a mole deep undercover within MI6 and soon puts together a small team to investigate including duty clerk Jerry Westerby (STEPHEN GRAHAM) who will be Smiley’s inside man to gather information. Together, they work to weed out the mole and uncover more truths about exactly what Control was onto and how deep the conspiracy goes.
This is a strange movie to really grasp as you’re not entirely sure what to make of it. The direction can be confusing because Director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) would splice in single shots that would only last a few seconds and it takes some time to just digest exactly what you saw and how it relates to the story. So for a movie that’s nearly two hours, it’s not as gelled together compared with other suspense spy dramas. This is not a bad thing as it’s nice that Alfredson, along screenwriters Bridget O’Connor (who passed away in 2010) and husband Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Debt), didn’t merely spoon-feed the audience and instead makes you think and discern what exactly is going on. Even so, this is a fairly linear story despite going back and forth in time.
The highlight to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, however, isn’t so much with the story, although it did manage to maintain my interest throughout, but instead it’s the performances. First and foremost, of course, is Gary Oldman as George Smiley. While I do think he deserved his long-awaited Academy Award nomination, I don’t think this was his finest performance albeit there is one scene in which he recaps an encounter with a Soviet spy known as Karla, all by himself and in the present (rather than a flashback). It’s actually one of the more key scenes and probably the one that stands out.
The supporting cast, even with limited roles except for Stephen Graham and Tom Hardy, also give good performances. Graham for his part is impressive playing primarily opposite Oldman in many scenes and even in a few tense-filled moments as his character must find and photograph top secret files as part of the investigation. Although narrow, Oscar winner Colin Firth is decent as is Mark Strong in yet another decent performance following turns in Sherlock Holmes and, yes, even Green Lantern where I argue he’s probably the best part of that film…
All in all, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a slow churning mystery spy thriller that putts along primarily on Gary Oldman’s Academy Award nominated performance. If not for Oldman I don’t think it would’ve held up nearly as well. Even so, I still enjoyed the movie and might one day watch it again as there are so many things going on.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.75/5
The Blu-ray comes housed in a standard case with a matted, title-embossed slip cover.
Feature Commentary – Director Tomas Alfredson and Actor Gary Oldman for a subdued yet interesting track – with a bit of dry humor – as they chat about the origins of the movie, playing George Smiley, different camera angles, set locations, etc. It’s not a lively commentary but with Oldman in the room along with Alfredson, it makes it well worth listening.
Deleted Scenes (6:08; HD) – Here we get a few scenes that, for whatever reason, didn’t make the cut (no doubt for pacing reasons). Overall, these aren’t anything special nor do they expand on the story in fact one scene merely has Oldman making and eating eggs (all in one take).
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: First Look (13:00; HD) – This is a fairly paint-by-numbers featurette where members of the cast and crew chat about the plot and their characters but generally don’t divulge that much.
Interviews (24:43; HD) – Either individually or via a “Play All” option, you can hear from Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Director Tomas Alfredson and Co-screenwriter Peter Straughan and John le Carre.
pocket BLU app – Using your Apple product (iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone), Android, PC or Mac, you can take advantage of a few things while the movie plays in your Internet connected Blu-ray player including Advanced Remote Control, Video Timeline, Mobile-To-Go, Browse Titles and Keyboard to enter data. ** Blu-ray Exclusives **
uHear – This Universal exclusive feature, which shockingly no other studio has tried to replicate (or at least I haven’t come across one), you can skip back a few seconds, where subtitles get turned on, to highlight what you missed. Why this hasn’t caught on is beyond me… ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Previews – Being Flynn, The Grey, Pariah
Also included is a BD-Live portal (** Blu-ray Exclusive **), a retail DVD Copy and a Digital Copy with iTunes download and/or UltraViolet streaming.
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Universal releases Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with a fine looking 1080p high-definition transfer. The movie, presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio, is well detailed throughout with a high amount of noise which I assume is intentional rather than a flaw within the transfer itself. Even so, the color array looks good keeping things subdued but still with some splash that makes it look good even within the home theater.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track offered up sounds excellent. Obviously, this isn’t a movie that’s going to highly benefit from a lossless track save for a scene here and there, but I was impressed by the crisp and clear dialogue levels coming out of the center channel while Alberto Iglesias’s score and some ambient noises make use of the front and rear speakers as well. I can’t call this a dynamic HD track but it’s still striking.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy excels in the acting category, and more specifically an excellent performance from Gary Oldman, but the story doesn’t hold as much water as I’d hoped. Sure, some of the storytelling was well done but there’s so much going on and the jump cut from past to present can be tough to keep up with if you’re not fully engrossed. Still, this is a good movie worth checking out at least once.
The Movieman
Published: 03/24/2012
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