Welp, if Pauline Kael can get away with writing short, Maltin-sized blurbs, so can I, damn it. Not as well, of course. In my blatant attempts to whitewash everything, even I have to admit that John le Carré isn't a one-note author. Okay, maybe two notes, but worth listening to. And very able to recruit actors. Every Brit except Tom Hollander seems to be in this damn movie! And, of course, I always likes me some Gary Oldman. Spoiler alert: I couldn't put my finger on his performance, but the spell was broken and it hit me: he seems to be channeling Jeremy Irons in this one. His way of saying n'yaah n'yaah, I guess. I hate to spoil the plot, but I will just by saying that le Carré and those in the know found out much earlier than the rest of us: the Cold War was a bunch of B.S. More specifically, as in The Good Shepherd, corruptive forces were hard at work leveling the playing field of secrets, some economical, some ideological, but we're not yet at the point of seeing them as heroes. The alpha leaker gets a quick death before getting the torture treatment, and a dude who gets shot, as Monty Python sometimes says, is "not quite dead." My viewing companion is second guessing it all now, but seemed to enjoy the calm pace of this cinematic outing, and I enjoyed the HD and lack of obvious HD blurring as well. Too bad it didn't win any Oscar gold. Got some BAFTAs, though!
***1/2
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan
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