If you want to watch a
great cold war spy drama, you can't do much better than Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy, based on the original novel by John Le Carré. However,
make sure you watch the right one, or should I say, watch the right
one first. The TV show was made in 1979, while the movie came out
2011. You should definately watch the TV show first, and there are
several reasons why.
First off, as much as I
love Gary Oldman, Alec Guiness fits the role of the main character,
George Smiley an MI6 veteran, better. There's something subtle
Guiness brings to the role, that I didn't find in Oldmans
performance. This pretty much goes for the rest of the cast as well.
Second, because the
story is set in '79, the film makers had to try to recreate the
seventies, instead of just being there like the show was, and it's
obvious. The film just can not feel as authentic, no matter how hard
they tried. And they tried very hard. But at the end of the day, a
copy can't beat an original.
The third and most
important reason is, the show had seven 45 minute episodes to tell an
intense and dramatic story set in the cold war, while the movie had
just over two hours to try to do the same thing. It's no surprise the
movie felt both confusing and rushed at the same time. If I hadn't
seen the show first. I wouldn't have understood half of what was
going on.
Do by all means watch
the movie, it's good, but the original show is so much better.
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