Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Reviews: What The Critics Are Saying

"Right here, right now, it's the film to beat at this year's festival." Xan Brooks of the Guardian has spoken, and we're inclined to nod violently in agreement. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is the British thriller directed by Tomas Alfredson that has been resting in back of our minds for months. Originally a novel by John Le Carre, the film smartly places Gary Oldman as its protagonist working to identify a mole at the top of the Circus -- the highest level of the Secret Intelligent Service -- leaking secrets to the Soviets in 1970s London. Along for the ride are a strong stable of British actors including Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy.

At the Venice Film Festival, the critics confirm what we had all dared to assume without having seen it -- this film is a superbly well-acted, visually stylish thriller that is standing at the head of the line for awards season. Critics, take it away:

Xan Brooks for the Guardian: "... a marvellously chill and acrid cold war thriller from Swedish director Tomas Alfredson. Right here, right now, it's the film to beat at this year's festival." Grade: 4 out of 5 stars

Leslie Felperin for Variety: "John Le Carre reportedly once said, 'Seeing your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.'Maybe so, but in the case of helmer Tomas Alfredson's version of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' the result is best likened to a perfectly seasoned consomme. An inventive, meaty distillation of Le Carre's 1974 novel, pic turns hero George Smiley's hunt for a mole within Blighty's MI6 into an incisive examination of Cold War ethics, rich in both contempo resonance and elegiac melancholy."

David Gritten for the Telegraph: "... it's possible another film may soon emerge to spearhead Britain's assault on the coming awards season. But after the world premiere here at the Venice Film Festival of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, it would be a huge surprise... the film is a triumph. It’s packed with superb British actors, all at the top of their game, with the lengthy book skilfully condensed into just over two hours of riveting narrative."Grade: 5 out of 5 stars

Matt Mueller for Thompson on Hollywood is not quite as enthusiastic: "Fans of the genre will finger the culprit early and without that added layer of suspicion, the big reveal is left feeling perfunctory, almost blase. Minus that last cathartic gasp, Tinker Tailor Solder Spy settles for being a very good as opposed to a superb spy thriller."

Chris Tookey for the Daily Mail: This beautifully modulated piece of underacting deserves to make him [Gary Oldman] a strong contender at next year's Oscars... This is a mature film in the European rather than Hollywood mould -- a character drama as much as a thriller, uncompromisingly aimed at grown-ups. As such, it may disappear from cinemas more speedily than it deserves."

Dave Calhoun for Time Out London: "This spy story is all about the journey - the process - and the byways of the route, not the grand finale. This film's superb cast, script and direction threaten to make that journey equally as thrilling as Le Carre's book." Grade: 4 out of 5 stars

Deborah Young for The Hollywood Reporter: "It is one of the few films so visually absorbing, felicitous shot after shot, that its emotional coldness is noticed only at the end, when all the plot twists are unraveled in a solid piece of thinking-man's entertainment for upmarket thriller audiences."

Oliver Lyttelton for The Playlist: "Few films here at Venice had such high expectations beforehand, so it gives us great pleasure to report that 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' is, on first viewing at least, incredibly rich and perfectly constructed, sitting with 'The Conversation' and 'The Ipcress File' in the very upper reaches of the genre." Grade: A

Overall Grade: A

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" will be released in the U.S. on Dec. 9.

WATCH the trailer:

Comments

[spygadgets50]

12:23 AM on 09/11/2011

I would have loved to see more usage of spy gadgets in this film (like the ones depicted in this blog, www.spygadgets.blogspot.com)

[PiperSniper]

01:43 PM on 09/06/2011

over two hours of riveting narrative."Grade: 5 out of 5 stars

Matt Mueller for Thompson on Hollywood is not quite as enthusiastic: "Fans of the genre will finger the culprit early and without that added layer of suspicion, the big reveal is left feeling perfunctory, almost blase. Minus that last cathartic gasp, Tinker Tailor Solder Spy settles for being a very good as opposed to a superb spy thriller."

Guess somebody hasn't read the novel from 1974 ... 36 years is a long time to hold the "reveal" LOL

[eponine24]

09:44 AM on 09/06/2011

Wel....good writing begets a good movie...in addition to good actors. This isn't a rocket science formula. And it's not a remake of some older movie that needed a "gritty reboot."

Can't wait to see it!

[mapleaforever]

02:44 AM on 09/07/2011

Actually it is a remake of a 6 hour teleplay that was brilliant.

[Michele Macdonald]

07:48 AM on 09/06/2011

I can't wait to see this Alfredson helmed film with its stellar cast...and Colin Firth, fresh off his Oscar, in particular.

[shatner99]

09:26 PM on 09/05/2011

A remake of Spygame? wow,

[mapleaforever]

02:44 AM on 09/07/2011

Not quite.

[Grant in Calgary]

06:14 PM on 09/05/2011

Making LeCarre into film is difficult . . . The BBC took a pretty good stab with Smiley's People some time back.

I seldom go the the movie theatre, but I will to see this.

[Johann Coltrane]

06:10 PM on 09/05/2011

After having watched the BBC version with Alec Guinness, please don't tell me how this remake ends. It'll spoil the surprise. Reminds when my friend gave away the ending to the Titantic--it somehow spoiled it for me. Who knew the ship was going down.

[Grant in Calgary]

06:15 PM on 09/05/2011

It's a different story . . . George Smiley was much younger in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy than in Smiley's People.

[c-tom]

02:21 PM on 09/06/2011

I think he was writing about the BBC version of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'. In all three of the Karla novels Smiley would have been in his 60s. 66 is not much older than 62 (trust me on this). Alec Guinness is and always will be, to those who saw the original nearly 30 years ago, the definitive Smiley.

[cjsim]

03:19 PM on 09/05/2011

Will probably see it when released through Netflix but doubt it can live up to the original with Alex Guniess. cjsim

[Totto]

03:33 PM on 09/05/2011

Fanned & Faved!! (67 yr. old progressive Democrat, note avatar)

[Grant in Calgary]

06:28 PM on 09/05/2011

Sir Alec Guiness.

[viewfromuphere]

10:50 PM on 09/05/2011

well I'm going to go see this.....an intelligent for films for grown ups on the big screen.

we're always complaining there isn't enough but if we want it...we have to show up for it.

and I loved BBC's Tinker Tailor with Sir Alec...

[kt]

03:04 PM on 09/05/2011

Gary Oldman is a good actor, but nobody can compare to Alec Guinness

[AlisonCarnie]

11:47 PM on 09/05/2011

I concur ... how about looking it not as comparing but augmenting Alec Guinness ... Colin Firth and Goldman ... can hardly wait for winter!

[Roland19]

03:02 PM on 09/05/2011

I really liked the book, so I give the movie a bash.

[sabelmouse]

10:04 AM on 09/06/2011

isn't that usually the best reason to avoid the film.

[Roland19]

10:58 AM on 09/06/2011

I suppose it is for some people. I don't go into films expecting direct translations of what was on the page, though. I like to see how the concept can be re-worked for the big screen.

[kve]

02:59 PM on 09/05/2011

Having read the book, I think Mueller and perhaps the viewers he envisions miss the point. LeCarre seems more concerned with how the mole is allowed to take over the Circus vs leaving us guessing who the mole is.

[MIKEinNYC]

02:27 PM on 09/05/2011

You know that this was a multi-part TV show a few years back. It was top-notch!

[we-r-stardust]

02:31 PM on 09/05/2011

1980...staring Alec Guinness,

[MIKEinNYC]

02:40 PM on 09/05/2011

Right. I had it on VHS. Now I have it on DVD. When I forget how it turns out and who did it I watch it again.

[MIKEinNYC]

06:59 PM on 09/05/2011

Right. Guiness was George Smiley. It might be time to watch it again.

[SDLee]

02:25 PM on 09/05/2011

He was good'n villainous in the Book Of Eli. The protagonist of a leCarre story would be quite a challenge for even the best actors.