Movie Review: 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' keeps its action undercover (Cleveland.com)

Published: Wednesday, January 04, 2012, 12:00 PM

By Clint O'Connor, The Plain DealerThe Plain Dealer
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FOCUS FEATURES George Smiley (Gary Oldman) keeps an eye on potential traitors in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."  

 

Trench-coat trudging, briefcase-carrying Gary Oldman, as John le Carre's Cold War-era British agent George Smiley, looks like he's on his way to the "Death of a Salesman" auditions. But this quiet man is way too crafty and thoughtful to suffer an Americanized meltdown. Smiley effortlessly guards his secrets, never tips his poker face, and has the goods on much of British and Soviet intelligence, circa 1973. He is almost entirely impenetrable.

 

This is very good if you are a professional spy. This is not so hot for your lead character in a thriller.
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" deftly offers a nuanced approach to the world of supersleuths, thanks to director Tomas Alfredson ("Let the Right One In") and screenwriters Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan. It's tough to streamline le Carre's novel into a film. The BBC took several nights to unravel the mysteries, with Alec Guinness as Smiley, in the late '70s. This film version is sly and subtle, but it lacks dramatic punch.

Oldman's performance is superb, by the way, and not easy considering his flashier moments include trying on a new pair of eyeglasses and removing his shoes. I didn't exactly have a stopwatch going, but he doesn't speak for about the first 20 minutes of the film. We see him -- trench coat, briefcase. He just doesn't throw words around loosely.

Smiley's mission is to uncover a mole, some high-level operative inside British intelligence (appropriately dubbed "The Circus"), who has been feeding information to the Soviets. There are plenty of suspects: the unctuous Percy (Toby Jones), the dutiful Roy (Ciaran Hinds), the sniveling Toby (David Dencik) and the charming Bill (Colin Firth). The excellent cast also includes Mark Strong and Tom Hardy as agents dispatched to do more of the dirty work. Note to Firth fans: Yes, this comes on the heels of his wonderful Oscar-winning turn in "The King's Speech," but Bill is a relatively small role.

With an assist from one of the few fellow agents he can trust (Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley starts to retrace the years of deception in his own agency. Smiley's one Achilles' heel is his estranged wife, Ann. She is mostly referred to only in passing, but the pain of whatever went wrong in that relationship hangs over the film like the steady London mist.

Alfredson and company did not tinker with le Carre's early '70s setting, which adds a certain retro-appeal to the shenanigans. But it's a long, winding and sometimes confusing road to the payoffs in "Tinker Tailor." Good luck figuring this one out.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: coconnor@plaind.com, 216-999-4456

On Twitter: @ClintOMovies


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