January 15, 2012

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011. A retired spy investigates a possible Soviet mole. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. Written by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan, based on a novel by John le CarrĂ©. Starring Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones, David Dencik, CiarĂ¡n Hinds, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch & Tom Hardy.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good). They could have been great if we'd been able to spend more time with any of them.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It never managed to engage me; there's no suspense. I like it anyway, more or less. The realism is interesting, and (unlike the book, which is incomprehensible) things fit together to make a sort of jigsaw puzzle. You can only see how it all works after everything's finished, though: Smiley almost never drops his poker face, and you don't get to ride along with the character as he figures it out. He just reads his files, then announces when he's done, and that's about it.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.3/4 (Very good)

No comments:

Post a Comment