Based on 112 votes and 35 reviews.
Have not read the book so it could be part of the reason I couldn't have cared less for any of the characters. Movie so confusing I found myself frustrated and disinterested.
Ok movie but the cold war is so over.
I was disappointed. I enjoy spy films, especially British spy films, but I found the film wanting. Almost too slow-moving, even though that's Le Carre's signature (the original book was written by him, for those who don't know that). It seemed to be a lot of bluster about very little -- I almost wish I hadn't seen it because it the characters were dull. A better film in the same vein: Page Eight, which starred Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz (made for British TV, but screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011).
It's a difficult story to tell in just over 2 hours. I suspect almost all the audience has read the books and knows the characters. The feel of 1970's Britain and the Cold War Era would be lost on anyone under 55. Spying never was flashy machines and gun play. My money was well spent. Four stars out of five.
expected more