Rated R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language.
Starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds and John Hurt
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Impressively directed and brilliantly shot, this is a gripping spy story with a satisfyingly intelligent script, some superb production design work and terrific performances from a wonderful ensemble cast.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is based on the novel by John LeCarre and set in 1973, at the height of Cold War paranoia. When an agent (Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux) is shot while on a mission in the USSR, Control (John Hurt) realizes that there must be a Russian mole in British intelligence and narrows it down to four colleagues – Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds), Percy Allenine (Toby Jones) and Toby Esterhase (David Dencik) – and asks loyal agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to investigate. Smiley duly recruits fellow agent Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) to help out and the pair begin a multi-layered investigation that seems to involve rogue agent Ricky Tarr (Tom Hardy), who fell in love with a Russian woman (Svetlana Khabenskiy) while undercover behind the Iron Curtain.
Let’s start with a few elements of the movie that were good.
I think the ensemble cast has to be mentioned first. Hardy, Strong, Firth and Hinds all deliver the goods. And I can’t leave out Gary Oldman, who is compelling and believable as Smiley.
The script is smart…maybe too smart. Let’s just say if I ever watch this one again, I hope I understand what’s happening a little bit better. I’m not saying I’m dumb, I’m saying this movie is packed with details – so pay attention when you watch it…as exhausting as it may be.
So what didn’t I like about the film? This movie is so slow that I honestly believe watching paint dry would have been more exciting. Sure Tomas Alfredson fits the pieces of information together like a complex jigsaw puzzle, but he does it a lot like my grandmother actually puts a jigsaw puzzle together. And believe me, that’s not fun.
So despite the cast and the script, I have to give it a “Only if Free.”
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
In one scene we see a man and woman having sex from a distance, and not much is seen. There are some homosexual references.
As far as violence there are several characters that are shot and a few fighting scenes.
There are a couple of F-words as well as milder terms such as “bloody” and “damn”.
Conversation Starter:
- Throughout the movie the characters are required to lie and cheat and sometimes kill. How would you feel if you had a job that required you to lie and cheat and sometimes kill?
- In one scene George says, “I want to talk about loyalty” and basically says we cannot serve two masters. Who were the two masters he was referring to?
- Do you know who else said we can’t serve two masters?
Read Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
- Who are the two masters Jesus was referring to?
- What do you think Jesus meant by that?
- In the movie, George expected loyalty. Do you think Jesus expects more or less loyalty from us? Why?
- What is one thing you can do this week to show your loyalty to Jesus?
