Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Review (3.5/5)

I was really looking forward to seeing how John LeCarre's much-loved detective thriller novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy translated onto the big screen, and I'm glad to say that for the most part it delivers in all of the places it should. Far from the Bourne Supremacys and Casino Royales of this world, this movie isn't afraid to be a slow-burner, moving at a steady pace with various revelations minor and major spoon fed to us over the course of the two hours. Better yet, a lot of the reasoning behind the final twists is left up to our imagination, sure to provoke much debate amongst both fans of the film and fans of the original book. It's rare a movie will leave us to ponder on its moral and philisophical implications nowadays, but as you'll see in the beautifully crafted (and orchestrated- Tinker's soundtrack shifts tonally throughout, a masterful trait) final sequence, Tinker isn't afraid to play with our expectations and to leave us on a thought-provoking 'cliffhanger'. Shutter Island and Inception did this too, but what does seperate these filmic greats from this one is their innovation: try as it might, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy never manages to shock or engage the audience as much as it should, and I can't help but think that if the cast hadn't been such a star-studded motley (Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch...and the list goes on!), I might not have been nearly as compelled by the storyline or its characters. Don't get me wrong, this isn't to criticise the cast themselves: Oldman puts in a sublime performance as Smiley, and each of the potential suspects for the 'Mole in the Circus' are brought across as sly and elusive by their respective actors. However, we do have to take into account the quality of many of the movies released in the Summer of Film- Super 8 in particular proved that a rather subtle piece can be deeply moving and captivating- and when compared to some of the major hitters from that season, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy feels out of their league. There's a lot to like about the film, and it'll certainly get you thinking in the duration of its running time and long afterwards, but a masterpiece/Film of the Year it's not.