This is a movie that is essentially a time warp. We are warped back into the seventies, when film was more grainy, the camera was actually steady, actors had substance, movies actually had a story to tell, and the audience was patient and intelligent.

By the standards of contemporary movie-making, when the first five minutes is usually an appetizer action sequence with a lot of explosions, this novel takes a really long time to get started, and the conflict slowly unfolds. Gary Oldman does an excellent job of playing the understated George Smiley, who must uncover a Russian mole within the leadership circle of British intelligence while battling old age/insignificance and the loss of the love of his life. George Smiley is the unlikeliest of all action heroes, and this spy thriller the opposite of James Bond. It doesn't have the epic scale and consequence of "The Good Shepherd," which was a great spy thriller in its own right. But "Tinker, Tailor" does work, and is a rare breed of film: a movie that stays loyal to the book while transforming onto the big screen.

What ultimately makes it work is the director's steady hand, his willingness and courage to test the audience's patience as he slowly builds up the plot, just as George Smiley patiently built his strategy to track down the Russian mole.

Probably like a lot of modern viewers, I had heard of but not read this book, nor seen the BBC TV series - Both were issued in the 1970's.

I did though read a few summaries, knew that it was loosely based on the hunt for British turncoat spy Kim Philby, and went into the movie understanding that it requires very careful attention to keep up with the involved plot. Seeing it cold, I still thought it was great, with terific performances by many decorated actors throughout the movie, and Gary Oldman is fantastic in the lead. In some ways, if like me you see it without knowing the story first, his character is done in a way that helps take you into the story, as he barely says anything in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie and just seems to be watching what all is going on. By the end, he has transformed into a strong character that has figured out the whole scheme.

While I loved the movie, even without having read the book to know the full story, it felt like the plot was overly compressed to fit within 2 hours. I watched it intently, but there were still a couple of developments in the plot, as done in the movie, that seemed like huge leaps. Hopefully there will someday be a director's cut that fleshes the movie out a little better.

One viewing tip, courtesy of the Seattle Times movie reviewer - the many flashbacks can sometimes be confusing, but one way to help keep them straight is the glasses worn by Gary Oldman. He buys a new pair at the start of the movie, so the flashbacks show him with his old glasses - for the current events, he is wearing the new ones.

Postscript:
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With the release of the movie on dvd and cable, many reviewers have now complained that the show is slow and boring. This is definitely not an action movie. If you're looking for the latest James Bond type flick, this movie is not for you.

On the other hand, director Tomas Alfredson (and John Le Carre in the book) probably assumed that the viewer would understand that this is a story of the very highest stakes - As mentioned above, it is widely acknowledged to be a fictionalized account of the hunt for British turncoat spy Kim Philby. Philby and his fellow Cambridge spies turned over vast amounts of classified British and US atomic and military information to the Soviets during the height of the Cold War. Philby also later admitted providing the Soviets with the names of hundreds of Western agents during his long years as a Communist mole, and many of those betrayed were captured and tortured or killed by the KGB. Le Carre could rightfully assume his readers in the Cold War era recognized the stakes involved without expressly stating such. Alfredson apparently assumed the same for the movie, as nothing was added to the script to make this clear for modern viewers. Personally, I think that was a reasonable approach, as it is apparent that the mole is at the highest level of British security, but it is clear from all of the reviews here that find the movie boring, many viewers feel otherwise.

By the way, while the British eventually confirmed he was a Communist spy, Philby actually escaped to the Soviet Union before he could be prosecuted and was later honored on a Russian postage stamp....

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is a well-executed adaptation of John Le Carre's classic espionage novel of the Cold War, with a first-rate cast, a haunting atmosphere, and a compelling narrative.

"Tinker" goes right to work. The opening sequence has field agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on an off-the-books mission to Hungary for the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as Control (John Hurt). Control suspects a mole within the upper reaches of the Service, and asks Prideaux to send back a codeword identifying the spy, using the children's nursery rhyme. The mission is compromised, Priddeaux is shot, and Control and his deputy George Smiley (Gary Oldman) are fired.

A restless Smiley is recalled to duty by a senior civil servant to investigate some unfinished business involving Ricki Tarr (a blonde Tom Hardy), a field agent who claims to know a vital Soviet secret and who has gone off the grid. With the assistance of Tarr's desk officer, the young Peter Guillam (an astonishingly good Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley quietly renews the search for the mole. Some old-fashioned detecting leads Smiley and Guillam down a thin trail of clues to four suspects and a fateful confrontation at a house in London.

Although only two hours long, "Tinker" manages to work in the key elements from a long novel, and gets some terrific work from the cast, especially Gary Oldman as Smiley, a weary Cold War veteran whose long brooding silences speak volumes. The 1970's setting of the novel is evoked in detail with hair and clothing fashions, music, and technical props such as typewriters, old-fashioned teletypes, and reel-to-reel tape recorders. The pacing of the story keeps the suspense alive to the end.

The inevitable comparison is with the superb BBC TV mini-series of the late 1970's starring Alec Guinness as Smiley. It is a weakness of the movie that at just two hours, it lacks the time to properly introduce the many characters or the period to a modern audience who may not have experienced the Cold War. There isn't a lot of exposition in the movie, and this reviewer, who was very familiar with the novel and the mini-series, suspects some viewers may have trouble following the story.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is highly recommended as an excellent and atmospheric spy drama.