Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 5, 2020 8:25:32 GMT -8
I could never get into the 1979 series with Alec Guinness. It just proceeds at a snail’s pace. But having watched the 2011 condensed version, there is an impetus to watch the original, if only to get the full story, because you’re certainly getting the Crib Notes version here.
The 1979 version is broken up into 7 episodes for a total runtime of about 6-1/2 hours. The 2011 movie is 122 minutes and feels cut up. Much of the plot, if not unclear, is disjointed. In this movie, something definitely seems missing.
But I suspect the appeal to this story is the characters. And this is where the 2011 movie shines. The cast is pretty good from top to bottom with perhaps only Ciarán Hinds’ character (Roy Bland) being left pretty undefined and underused.
At the end of the day, the end of this story was not at all satisfying. In fact, I’m not sure I understand it. But character-driven this is and Gary Oldman is solid as George Smiley. John Hurt plays Control, Toby Jones is Percy Alleline, Mark strong is Jim Prideaux, David Dencik plays Toby Esterhase, and Colin Firth Plays Bill Haydon. Benedict Cumberbatch (the “good” Cumberbatch, in my opinion) is good as Smiley’s trusted hand-picked man.
I think one reviewer says it best: “A tad confusing in the telling, but excellent in tone.” The production values are excellent. The screenwriting is a bit lacking.
The 1979 version is broken up into 7 episodes for a total runtime of about 6-1/2 hours. The 2011 movie is 122 minutes and feels cut up. Much of the plot, if not unclear, is disjointed. In this movie, something definitely seems missing.
But I suspect the appeal to this story is the characters. And this is where the 2011 movie shines. The cast is pretty good from top to bottom with perhaps only Ciarán Hinds’ character (Roy Bland) being left pretty undefined and underused.
At the end of the day, the end of this story was not at all satisfying. In fact, I’m not sure I understand it. But character-driven this is and Gary Oldman is solid as George Smiley. John Hurt plays Control, Toby Jones is Percy Alleline, Mark strong is Jim Prideaux, David Dencik plays Toby Esterhase, and Colin Firth Plays Bill Haydon. Benedict Cumberbatch (the “good” Cumberbatch, in my opinion) is good as Smiley’s trusted hand-picked man.
I think one reviewer says it best: “A tad confusing in the telling, but excellent in tone.” The production values are excellent. The screenwriting is a bit lacking.
There’s a nice scene mid-movie with Kathy Burke as Connie Sachs. Along with several others, she’s been forced out of the Circus. She still thinks of all those grown men as “her boys.” You get a sense for the camaraderie that developed during the war and that barely still fuels what they are all doing now. The movie could have used many more scenes such as this.