Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

11 April 2016

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 2011

• Director: Tomas Alfredsson
• Based on the novel by John Le Carré
• Cast: Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciarin Hinds, Colin Firth, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Graham, Simon McBurney, Tom Hardy, Roger Lloyd Pack, Laura Carmichael
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gary Oldman – Harry Potter, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, The Book of Eli, Friends, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, Léon, Romeo is Bleeding, True Romance, Dracula, JFK, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Prick Up Your Ears, Sid and Nancy, Meantime
• Mark Strong – The Eagle, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria, Flashbacks of a Fool, Stardust, Sunshine, Sunshine (1999), Fever Pitch
• John Hurt – Merlin, Harry Potter, Melancholia, Brighton Rock. V for Vendetta, Manderlay, Dogville, Dead Man, Rob Roy, King Lear, The Elephant Man, Alien, I Claudius, A Man for All Seasons
• Toby Jones – The Hunger Games, Spy, Harry Potter(Dobby’s voice), Frost & Nixon, The Mist, Amazing Grace, Infamous, Mrs Henderson Presents, Finding Neverland, Ladies in Lavender, Hotel Splendide, EverAfter, Les Misérables, Naked, Orlando
• David Dencik – Män som hatar kvinnor, Upp till kamp
• Ciarin Hinds – The Woman in Black, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallos Part 2, In Bruges, Margo at the Wedding, Hallam Foe, Amazing Grace, The Calendar Girls, Road to Perdition, Titanic Town, Jane Eyre, Cold Lazarus, Mary Reilly, Excalibur
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech, Genova, Then She Found Me, Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually, Girl with Pearl Earring, My Life So Far, Shakespeare in Love, A Thousand Acres, Fever Pitch, The English Patient
• Kathy Burke – Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky (voice only), Elizabeth, Nil by Mouth, Absolutely Fabulous, Sid and Nancy
• Benedict Cumberbatch – Creation, The Other Boleyn Girl, Atonement, Amazing Grace, To Kill a King, Starter for 10
• Stephen Graham – Pirates of the Caribbean, Public Enemies, This Is England, Gangs of New York
• Simon McBurney –The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre, Robin Hood, Bright Young Things, Kafka
• Tom Hardy – The Dark Knight Rises, Inception
• Roger Lloyd Pack – Hustle, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Longitude, Interview with the Vampire, Prick Up Your Ears, Fiddler on the Roof
• Laura Carmichael – Downton Abbey
• Why? Gary Oldman. Wanted to see it again to see if it made more sense
• Seen:  once before in the cinema with friends KA and EAP. Now 9 April 2016 with friend YW in our read-book-see-movie group 

       For being a film that is very confusing in which there is a whole lot of nothing going on I found it interesting the first time we saw it. Having now read the book – which was also confusing with a whole lot of nothing going on but very interesting – I’m curious about seeing the film this second time.

       It’s a spy story which is almost my least favourite genre and it’s as far from James Bond as can be imagined. Is that good or bad, I wonder? It’s all about a mole and the villain behind the shooting of a British agent. George Smiley – was has recently been sacked – is told to find the answers.

       That’s about it really. It’s frustrating not to understand things clearly this time either, and they really could have shown more at the end about what happens to these people but with that said, well. I don’t like it exactly but I don’t not like it either. Will I have to watch it a third time?

3 ½ * of 5