Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011

2h 7m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

2.8K

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Drama

Thriller

Mystery

In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6.

Directors

Tomas Alfredson

Writers

Bridget O'Connor(screenplay by)

John le Carré(novel by)

Peter Straughan(screenplay by)

Stars

Gary Oldman

Colin Firth

Tom Hardy

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Top cast

George Smiley

Bill Haydon

Ricki Tarr

Control

Percy Alleline

Jim Prideaux

Peter Guillam

Roy Bland

Toby Esterhase

Connie Sachs

Jerry Westerby

Oliver Lacon

Svetlana Khodchenkova

Irina

Roger Lloyd Pack

Mendel

Konstantin Khabenskiy

Polyakov

Christian McKay

Mackelvore

Zoltán Mucsi

Magyar

Péter Kálloy Molnár

Hungarian Waiter

Directors

Tomas Alfredson

Writers

Bridget O'Connor(screenplay by)

John le Carré(novel by)

Peter Straughan(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Many folks will remember the wonderful BBC adaptation of this John Le Carré story that featured the late Sir Alec Guinness as the measured and sagely "George Smiley" character. This time, this almost as superior adaptation places an on-form Gary Oldman in that role. What role? Well having just been pensioned off, he is re-recruited by "C" (John Hurt) to try and track down a KGB spy deep within the fabric of MI6. It's fair to say that, as this story starts to unfold, we discover there are plenty of suspects and the classily written story bombards us with characterful and suspicious scenarios that might be true, might be half-true, or might just be genuine red herrings! A formidable cast of British stalwarts add richness to this complex but not convoluted tale of deceit and betrayal. Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and even the usually unimpressive Mark Strong chip in well but my plaudits go to the truly odiously ambitious Toby Jones ("Alieline") and to Benedict Cumberbatch's "Guillam". Tomas Alfredson has paced this film well. It can appear slow at times, but on the second time of watching I appreciated there was much more substance to some of the dialogue, the nuanced efforts from the stars and from a very well crafted period production. It just goes to show that less can definately be more when the writing and acting do all the heavy lifting in concert, leaving the pyrotechnics and visual effects in their boxes.

Geronimo196722 Jul, 2022