Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy is a spy “thriller” set in the 70s and follows a handful of officers and leaders within the Britain Intelligence agency as they try to uncover the truth behind rumors that there is a double agent within. I put the word thriller in quotation marks because I use that word loosely. It is certainly how the film is being marketed and probably an accurate word given the genre, but the pace of the move is slow as molasses and I think there has to be a certain speed at which a movie keeps up and maintain the thrills. My movie mate described it, “like watching a spy thriller on dial up,” which I think was perfectly fitting.
He also described it as “confusing, beautiful and boring,” if that tells you anything.
Overall it was a great ensemble performance of a mostly male cast. There were a lot of great actors in the film including Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch (who is going to be the villain in the new Star Trek) and Tom Hardy (yum, who is going to be in the new Batman). But at the end of the day I didn’t really ever feel very invested in this movie, was never really on the edge of my seat, and kind of knew what was going to happen in the end. There were a handful of gay-curious innuendos and/or undertones which were kind of interesting but in the end it just made the movie a little more confusing.
I think this movie could be saved for rental or a plane ride.
