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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Andy James & Noor Razzak (15th May 2012). |
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The Film
 There have been any number of film and television adaptations of John le Carré's celebrated work but, until very recently, I had never read one of his novels. Before watching "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" I finished "The Looking Glass War" - a dry, intelligent and involved work with no happy ending. An ending, in fact, that I could see coming from the beginning but that was no less effective in its bathos. le Carré's spies are as far away from the globe-laying, gadget carrying, running, shooting, jumping James Bond archetypes as it is possible to get. These are far more believable, flawed, human characters, with the upper echelons peopled entirely with Old Boys - no women or lower class people here thank-you-very-much These are spies that deal with intelligence, counter-intelligence, misinformation, disinformation and the blurred lines between them all. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" concerns the hunt for a Russian mole who has penetrated the inner circle of the Secret Intelligence Service, the Circus. George Smiley (Gary Oldman) - recently forced out of the SIS along with John Hurt's Control after a botched attempt to flush the mole - is tasked by the Minister to hunt out the mole amongst them. Smiley is a spy, spying on the spies in an attempt to find the spy among them. The film unravels at a perfectly measured and mesmerizing pace. Not being packed with action scenes and shaking cameras, director Tomas Alfredson instead allows the characters to do all of the talking and heavy-lifting. It is a spy film filled with a lot of people sitting around talking. And it is absolutely riveting; I barely moved for the entire run-time, so absorbed was I. It surely doesn't hurt any when there is a cast as accomplished as this. Gary Oldman, headlining as George Smiley, is a magnetic presence able to hold the attention of the camera with but a look. He speaks only when necessary and keeps everything beneath the surface. At first glance, Smiley is a buttoned down man; a typical English stuffed-shirt. But Oldman lets us see the fire and iron lying just behind the eyes when needed. Tom Hardy as field-operative Ricki Tarr is the closest Tinker Tailor comes to the traditionally thought of cinematic spy. He's one of the men the Circus sends out into the field, to spy on foreign targets and eliminate or turn them as required. Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones, Colin Firth and David Dencik are the men running the Circus, one of whom is the turncoat. Toby Jones' Percy Alleline is a weasel of man, with Hinds' Roy Bland seeming to serve as his right-hand man. Firth is the smooth talker of the office, easily hopping from office-girl to office-girl, the only man in the office exuding any sense of charm or charisma. And Benedict Cumberbatch is Peter Guilliam, the only man inside the Circus that Tarr and Smiley trust and who often finds himself in the lion's den. Alfredson doesn't talk down to the audience, instead trusting them to keep up with the oft-confusing details as he sets the steady, steady pace and cold-soaked atmosphere. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is a very English spy story, in a very English setting (with some influence from real events) and captured with an outsider's eye. The film, like the characters, can be cold and grey but there lurks a tension beneath it all. Come the end, mole or not, almost everyone is hurt or destroyed in some way. No-one comes out clean; no-one comes away happy or victorious.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 mastered in high definition 1080p 24/fps and using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The film takes place in rather somber and drab looking places, the transfer reflects this aesthetic perfectly. The grittiness of the image perfectly matches the overall look, the colors are muted, skin tones appears natural and film grain is evident and adds to the overall weight of the film. Blacks are a little noisy but never distracting, detail looks great, contrast is well balanced, and the overall image is clean of any flaws such as compression related issues, edge-enhancement or dirt.
Audio
Three audio tracks are featured on this disc in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as French and Spanish DTS 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English audio. This film is almost entirely dialogue driven and the film's tone is dictated by the period in which the film takes place. The soundtrack does in fact feature crisp, clean and clear dialogue, however the surprise was how immersive the audio was, with rear channels as active as the front. The film's ambiance is natural, directional surrounds are used well to envelope the viewer and the film's score brings it all together. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Universal Pictures has released this film in a 2-disc Blu-ray set that features an audio commentary, a collection of deleted scenes, a series of five interviews and a DVD that also features a digital copy version of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY The disc opens up with a feature-length screen-specific audio commentary with director Tomas Alfredson and actor Gary Oldman. This somber track sees the film's director and its star comment on various product aspects. They spend some time on developing the story, working on set to create the characters and create a tone and style for the film. There's some comparison between the original source (the novel in which the film is based on) and the film as well as some changes and directions the film went among other things. A deleted scenes (1080p) reel runs for 6 minutes 8 seconds, these are a series of off-cuts and moments that didn't make it into the film, some short moments that were cut because they were unnecessary or were omitted for run time reasons. There's nothing really of note here, in one long scene Smiley cooks an egg and eats it (that's about it, I suppose showing his solitary state), one interesting quick scene shows Smiley's wife having just cheated on him. "First Look: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1080i) is the only featurette which runs for 13 minutes and is the usual EPK clip that covers the basics, the cast and crew comment on the film's story and themes, the actors comment on the characters they play and on specific story elements related to the film. One interesting aspect that's covered is the grittiness of the story, the re-creation of the secret world in which these characters live and on creating tension. The disc also includes a collection of five interviews, these clips offer talking heads as each participant comments on the differences between the book and the film, the various characters and their motivations in relation to the plot, also covered are the performances and how the actors approached each character, among other things. The interviews are with: - Gary Oldman (480p) runs for 7 minutes 40 seconds. - Colin Firth (480p) runs for 6 minutes 33 seconds. - Tom Hardy (480p) runs for 3 minutes 27 seconds. - Tomas Alfredson & Peter Straughan (480p, 7:01) - John le Carré (1080p) runs for 31 minutes 48 seconds. The disc also features a collection of bonus trailers (1080p) for: - "Universal Pictures 100th Anniversary" promo runs for 2 minutes 29 seconds. - "Being Flynn" runs for 2 minutes 17 seconds. - "The Grey" runs for 44 seconds. - "Pariah" runs for 16 seconds. "My Scenes" is Universal's bookmarking feature. Also featured on the disc is the usual BD-Live access and pocket BLU feature. DISC TWO: DVD This is the standard definition version of the film and if you pop the disc into your computer or laptop you can access the digital copy version of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 2-disc Blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
The film review was originally published on the blog Rockets and Robots are Go! by Andy James. The A/V and supplements were reviewed by Noor Razzak.
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