Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

To remake one of the finest BBC mini-series ever made, starring the late, ingenious Alec Guinness is an almost impossible task. The series is definitely too long by today's depressing standards, so perhaps a two-hour feature is just the treatment it needs. And you have to give it to them: They really did try.

They are very true to the aesthetics of the original. There are grainy, grey filters and men with impeccable hair and suits galore. All smoking and speaking softly, until angered. Some of the lines are identical word for word, and particularly the scene with Kathy Burke is hardly altered at all (apart from the crude opening), and neither is Guillam's encounter with The Circus.

The cast is of the greatest quality, even with a vast amount of key characters. As I shall explain, a good bunch of actors, does not necessarily make a great cast. But the problem here, is more that the director has altered a lot of the from the book and original series. But on to the men.

John Hurt is perfectly weary as Control, dying and discredited at the end of a long and distinguished career. Benedict Cumberbatch lacks the brutish tendencies as Peter Guillam, and isn't the best fit here as he comes off less than independent. Oldman is one of the finest actors of his generation, and proves is again here. Particularly his soliloquy re-enacting an old interrogation is magnificent. Firth is solid, but lacks the vast arrogance of Ian Richardson, and he doesn't have the same screen-time. Generally it feels like they've tried to modernise the male characters, depriving them of the stoic self-belief. In that though, they also deprive the film of the exceptional treat of the form of banter that's hardly been seen since the 70's: The grown men with inflated self-worth and the arrogance to go with it, banging it out in a way only men who are obsessed with manners and appearance. And that really is gone here.

As in the original, Smiley is portrayed as a ridiculously lonely and quiet man, albeit with the sharpest of brains. Director Alfredson does perhaps overdo the loneliness, though I suspect the world today is a much less subtle place. Furthermore, Alfredson keeps the slow pace of the series. But by lingering and slowing down unimportant parts of the story, he has to cut even more of the story. And what suffers most in that respect is the quiet, dignified power for struggle within The Circus, and in particular the part of Toby Esterhase who is reduced to a snivelling weasel in the film, bereft of class and ambition.

The chess-pieces are a clever trick, though not very original, and forgotten towards the middle of the film. Alfredson is guilty of a couple of shortcuts and unnecessary distractions towards the end, but nothing major. A clear mistake made is that whereas the original immediately tells us the relevance of the children's rhyme, this film leaves it until the last half-hour. And generally this is a much smarter film than average and it really is a delight seeing the puzzle slowly take form until completion. With the fantastic script from John Le Carré, it certainly is a wonderful puzzle to watch.

7/10