ReZourceman Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 Anyone seen this or plan on seeing it? Saw it last night and thought the acting for the most part was flawless....Mark Strong and Tom Hardy were amazingly good, but ofcors Gary Oldman will be Oscar Nommed (despire arguably not being as good as teh others). Kathy Burke was wooden as fuck however. Good editing, and a nice back-and-forth. But... I just felt a bit *shrug* about it. It gets right into it straight away, and with the focus being on so many different characters I found it pretty hard to care about what was happening or who the mole even was. It was nice when there were a few scenes of actual emotion shown, and those were by far the best bits, but yeah,.....its all such a big whodunnit and that is the single plot element or crux...and it feels like "whydunnit" would have been more interesting. Well made and executed but I....dunno. Can't put my finger on it.
Dog-amoto Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 Yeah I was a bit underwhelmed too. It was a good movie and all but as you said, there was just something missing I couldn't put my finger on. I think it was that the narrative was all over the place. Too many scenes cut to flashbacks and back again too quickly.
Paj! Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 I didn't like it. It was very good as a film though. I just wasn't engaged with it, kept missing bits unintentionally, as it kept layering on information without explanation (fair enough), but for some reason I just wasn't picking it up. Not the film's fault though, it was a completely solid *thing*. Just me at the time/my preference. It didn't pander to the audience as the majority of 'similar' films end up doing to some extent, but I wonder if it was almost too obtuse? Though I got the *point*, I still felt like I was being rushed along the story, only picking up bits and bobs as it speeds by. Despite being a very slow-paced film. It was good though, of course. I just didn't enjoy it.
The Peeps Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 It felt like there wasn't enough time for the makers to present all of the information. It kind of went from scene to scene with no real follow-on/flow. It felt like each new scene was a 'one week later' type edit because it always felt like something was missing to get us to that point. I did like it though, I just think I need to watch it again at some point to follow it better. I was confused when the one who got shot in Hungary(?) was at a school teaching. I thought it was a flashback because it looked like he had died (and I'm sure the other characters had said as much), then the explanation came later.
Diageo Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 I think it has a funny title. That is all.
Dan_Dare Posted September 23, 2011 Posted September 23, 2011 I thought it was incredible. Though, being a massive Le Carrè fan means I'm pretty biased. Performances were absolutely flawless all round and the screenplay was just...I have no idea how they did it. The book should be unfilmable but they somehow managed it. ith regards to Rez' point about showin emotion, I really disagree. The cast are all spies so they don't open themselves like they otherwise might but the emotion is all there still. I particularly thought that Gary Oldman nailed Smiley: All restraint on the surface but you can see the disappointment and anger on his face and it's only very briefly that you can see the cracks but they're delivered amazingly. Benedict Cumberbatch was fantastic too as Peter Guilliam - the scenes with him coming apart under the pressure were magnificent. The plot is really difficult though, especially the Witchcraft stuff (I thought they should have spent more time on it personally, even having read the book) so I can imagine new viewers having a hard time or concentrating more on the plot than the mote subtle elements of the film. I just really hope they make the other two books in the series in to films the same way. It'd be a shame to leave it when they have such a magnificent team behind this film.
ReZourceman Posted September 23, 2011 Author Posted September 23, 2011 Tom Hardy was ridiculously good tbh. Dan Dare, what did you think of Kathy Burke? I got airs of Kate Winslet from Revolutionary Road, i.e. shit acting.
dan-likes-trees Posted September 23, 2011 Posted September 23, 2011 Yeah.... I had very little idea what was going on half of the time. Think I got it all by the end, more or less. Witchcraft and the Americans all got a bit lost on me, wasn't qutie in the mood for a heavy film I think. Like everyone's said the acting was obviously amazing, particularly liked Tom Hardy. Top stuff. Oh and it looked amazing, the washed out shots and especially some of the set designs, particualry the main room where the group met. Amazing.
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