I should have known, I should have learnt by now. You read the reviews, hear the interviews and get excited by the trailer. Yet when you finally finish watching this 'great' movie, you are left feeling slightly cheated and unfulfilled. The previews and reviews for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy have been virtually unanimous in their praise for the film. And when you look at the cast, you wonder how they could possibly fail. But fail it does.
It is not that Tinker is a bad film. It is well directed and well acted. But also, dare I say it, quite dull. While the plot does not require Mensa like brainpower it is slightly complicated. It is made more confusing by the almost suffocating amount of smoke (no mirrors) and the distinct lack of dialogue. Rather than pull you in, the movie holds you at arms length as you observe this clandestine world of espionage.
I never saw the TV adaptation, but I guess that over several episodes, the programme would have had the advantage of being able to build the tension and establish the characters of the leading players. Here you feel no attachment to Smiley because of Gary Oldman's cold performance and you don't get close to any of the others either.
I should make it clear that my viewing was slightly spoilt by someone telling me who the spy was before I saw it. However the big reveal is extremely underwhelming and never really explained. Tinker is the perfect example of a 'critics' film. These are the movies that get the writers salivating because they do all the right things; good acting, direction and a solid storyline. In fact, that's a minimal requirement really and all we said on leaving the cinema was "that was well filmed and acted", thereafter our conversation stopped. The film didn't entertain enough for there to be anything else to say.
Much of the discussion around this film was whether Tinker is a victory for the thinking-man's film over the over the top blockbusters of the last two decades. Sadly it is not. Too often films really on special effects to entertain, forgetting the necessity of a plot and characters to love or hate. But Tinker is like the Mona Lisa; you have a sense of it being good but you don't know why. With Tinker, I am not sure if it can even be called good.