The director, producers and writers of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy were so intent on making a great film that they forgot to make a good one. While the production is technically excellent, it is so self-consciously arty that each frame of the film might as well carry the caption “Please Give Us an Oscar.”
Beyond it’s technical production, TTSS is a surprisingly shallow film. It’s characters seem to have no depth or development other than as conveyors of a general sense of gloom. The remarkable themes of the novel are entirely missing. Instead, we are left with the facile message that professional spies have depressing lives, which, in an odd way, romanticizes the world of espionage just as much as any James Bond film.
This is strangely appropriate, since, although adapted from the novel of the same name, TTSS would likely not exist were it not for the James Bond films. The film’s publicity and nearly all of the (very positive) reviews were careful to mention that this film is not an action/adventure, specifically unlike the Bond franchise. “Not a James Bond movie,” may be the films only significant theme.
Technically Good, Thematically Empty
The director, producers and writers of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy were so intent on making a great film that they forgot to make a good one. While the production is technically excellent, it is so self-consciously arty that each frame of the film might as well carry the caption “Please Give Us an Oscar.”
Beyond it’s technical production, TTSS is a surprisingly shallow film. It’s characters seem to have no depth or development other than as conveyors of a general sense of gloom. The remarkable themes of the novel are entirely missing. Instead, we are left with the facile message that professional spies have depressing lives, which, in an odd way, romanticizes the world of espionage just as much as any James Bond film.
This is strangely appropriate, since, although adapted from the novel of the same name, TTSS would likely not exist were it not for the James Bond films. The film’s publicity and nearly all of the (very positive) reviews were careful to mention that this film is not an action/adventure, specifically unlike the Bond franchise. “Not a James Bond movie,” may be the films only significant theme.