Blu-ray Review Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Blu-ray Review - Recommended (1 Viewer)

[Kevin EK]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a tense and effective thriller about secret agents and double agents playing a deadly game of cat and mouse in the 1970s.  The jargon gets pretty thick at times, and there is more of a language barrier than one might think, but the movie works very well, spearheaded by a sly performance by Gary Oldman.  The new Blu-ray release of the movie includes great picture and sound, along with a commentary and some other extras.  The DVD edition is included in the packaging to boot.  Fans of the spy thriller genre will likely have a good time here, as will fans of the cast.  The Blu-ray is Recommended, with the caveat that fans of the book or the Alec Guiness miniseries may want to rent this first before purchasing.

Studio: Universal/Focus Features, Studio Canal

Year: 2011

Length: 2 hrs 8 mins

Genre:  Period Thriller/Spy vs. Spy

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

BD Resolution and Codec: 1080p, AVC @ 30 mbps

Audio:  English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (@ an average 3.6 mbps, up to 4.3 mbps), Spanish DTS 5.1, French DTS 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Film Rating: R (Violence, Some Sexuality/Nudity, Language)

Release Date: March 20, 2012

Starring:  Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Mark Strong

Based on the Novel by:  John le Carré

Screenplay by: Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Directed by: Tomas Alfredson

Film Rating: 3 ½/5

“You don’t just trade these people like they’re baseball cards!  It’s not a …game!”

“Oh yes it is.  It’s exactly what it is.  And it’s no kids’ game either.  This is a whole other game. 

And it’s serious and it’s dangerous.  And it’s not one you want to lose.”

From the 2001 Film Spy Game

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a great example of just how international espionage works as a very serious and dangerous game between countries and individuals.  Adapted from the novel by John le Carré, the movie distills quite a lot of material down to a two hour length that never feels particularly rushed.  Without spoiling the rich details, the plot follows an internal investigation in the British intelligence service (here called “The Circus”) to find a double agent.  Leading the investigation is George Smiley (Gary Oldman), an senior agent recently forced out of the service.  The movie is loaded with great performances, from John Hurt and Colin Firth to a nearly unrecognizable Tom Hardy.  But the heart of the movie really is the work of Gary Oldman, who lulls the other characters and the audience into a false sense of comfortable ease before people realize the machinery ticking behind the eyes.  It’s quite an entertaining movie, as well as a thought-provoking one, but it can be hard to understand.  (At multiple points during the film, I was compelled to rewind a scene or turn the subtitles on to confirm what was happening.  From my discussions with several other people who have seen the film, my issue was not an isolated one.) 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has of course been adapted from the John le Carré book before, with the famous Alec Guiness miniseries that ran about 5 hours long.  To make the new movie, the plot and characters have been considerably streamlined.  It is for this reason that I must qualify my recommendation of the movie.  For while I enjoy this new film, I realize that many viewers have fond memories both of the book and of Alec Guiness’ performance in the prior adaptation.  And for people looking for a more in-depth treatment of the book, it’s probably best that they indeed turn to the earlier miniseries.  But for those looking without preconceptions for an entertaining thriller will be rewarded here, both with the performances and with the masterful direction of Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In).  Make no mistake – this is a movie that requires the viewer to do a lot of thinking:  not only to solve the central mystery but to piece together several of the onscreen relationships that are only partially examined.  I find that to be a rewarding journey, and thus am happy to recommend the Blu-ray for purchase with the above qualification.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has been released simultaneously on Blu-ray and standard definition just this past week. The Blu-ray has everything from the standard DVD, and adds high definition picture and sound, along with a battery of interviews with the cast and creative staff. The Blu-ray also includes the DVD copy of the movie on a second disc. Both editions come with a scene-specific audio commentary by director Tomas Alfredson and actor Gary Oldman, some deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. (For the Blu-ray, the John le Carré interview is presented in high definition video). Instructions for downloading a digital copy and getting an Ultraviolet copy are also included in the package. 

VIDEO QUALITY  4 ½/5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is presented in a 1080p AVC 2.35:1 transfer that shows off a satisfying amount of detail within its intentionally drab and gritty look.  There is a fair amount of darkness in this movie, and the transfer does well with it – both revealing details as necessary and cloaking others when appropriate.  The multiple instances of greenscreen and CGI work in the movie are invisible, even in the high definition image.

AUDIO QUALITY  4 ½/5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is presented in an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in English, as well as standard DTS mixes in Spanish and French.  The levels vary wildly between scenes, although not in an overly manipulative way.  Alberto Iglesias’ jazzy score (properly nominated for an Academy Award) shines in this mix.  And while there are issues in the movie of understanding some of the dialogue, this is not due to the sound mix – the dialogue comes through loud and clear.  The issue there just has to do with the dialogue itself being unclear to the untrained ear.

SPECIAL FEATURES   3 ½/5

The Blu-Ray presentation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes with a fair amount of extra features.  The DVD edition is included in the packaging.  Both Blu-ray and DVD include a scene-specific commentary, a few deleted scenes and a “First Look” featurette.  The Blu-ray also includes short SD interviews with several cast members and the director, along with an HD interview with author John le Carré.

My Scenes – The usual Blu-ray bookmarking feature is available here, allowing the viewer to set their own bookmarks throughout the film.

BD-Live - This Blu-ray includes access to Universal’s BD-Live online site, allowing for the viewing of trailers online.  

pocket BLU – This Blu-ray includes the usual pocket BLU functionality, enabling viewers with appropriate laptop, iPad or smart phone integration to remotely control their Blu-ray player and access some of the bonus content from the separate device.  Also, a digital copy is available for download via the pocket BLU application.

Commentary with Director Tomas Alfredson, and Actor Gary Oldman (AVAILABLE BOTH ON DVD AND BLU-RAY) – This scene-specific commentary finds Tomas Alfredson and Gary Oldman watching the movie together and making various observations about the story and the production.

Deleted Scenes (6:08 Total, 1080p) (AVAILABLE BOTH ON DVD & BLU-RAY) – This is a collection of several deleted moments, including the other side of a phone call seen in the movie and one long moment of George Smiley cooking breakfast in his kitchen.  The scenes are presented in a single chapter with no menu to present any on an individual basis.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: First Look (13:00, 1080p) (AVAILABLE BOTH ON DVD & BLU-RAY) – This brief making-of featurette covers the basics of the production, including the usual soundbites from the cast and the director.  Some additional flavors are added from the inclusion of comments by author John le Carré, who is not only pleased with the movie but also appears in a brief cameo at a party.

Interviews (BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE) – A series of interviews with the cast and creative staff round out the package.

            Gary Oldman (7:40, 480p, Anamorphic) – Gary Oldman’s answers to a few questions are presented here in this brief assembly.

            Colin Firth (6:33, 480p, Anamorphic) – Colin Firth weighs in some of the same issues regarding adapting the book into the movie

            Tom Hardy (3:27, 480p, Anamorphic) – Tom Hardy answers a few questions here, including mentioning that some of his work had to be reshot due to how bad his long-haired wig looked when the filmmakers began to examine his scenes more closely.

            Tomas Alfredson & Peter Straughan (7:01, 480p, Anamorphic) – Alfredson and one of the two screenwriters answer some questions about the development of the movie

            John le Carre (31:48, 1080p) – This is a longer interview piece with the author, covering multiple areas including his own real-life espionage work and how he came up with the material for the title book.  This interview is the most rewarding part of the special features on the disc, in that he concisely covers a lot of ground, particularly for fans of the book.

DVD Copy – A second disc is included in the package, holding the standard DVD of the theatrical cut of the movie.  It contains the movie presented in standard definition in an anamorphic 2.35:1 picture with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in English, Spanish and French (448 kbps).   The commentary is included, as is the “First Look” featurette” and the deleted scenes.
 

Digital and Ultraviolet Copies – Instructions are included in the packaging for downloading a digital copy of the movie to your laptop or portable device, as well as for obtaining an Ultraviolet streaming copy to be placed up in the cloud.  The instructions include a deadline of August 27, 2012 for activation.  I note again that the pocket BLU online menu also includes an option for downloading the digital copy.

Subtitles are available for the film and the special features, in English, Spanish and French. A full chapter menu is available for the film.

IN THE END...

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a solid espionage thriller with great performances that expects a lot from its audience.  In some cases, the audience must do some of the work to piece together the onscreen clues.  In other cases, the audience may be hard-pressed to decipher the jargon spoken by all these intelligence professionals.  And there’s the inevitable comparison to the miniseries with Alec Guiness, which may be an issue for viewers familiar with the earlier adaptation.  But for fans and audience members interested in a fresh look at the material and a great performance by Gary Oldman in the role of George Smiley, there are many rewards to be found here.  The Blu-ray release comes with great picture and sound and some satisfying extra material.  The release is Recommended for Purchase, or for an initial rental if you’re more wary of the material.

Kevin Koster

March 24, 2012.

Equipment now in use in this Home Theater:

Panasonic 65” VT30 Plasma 3D HDTV – set at “THX” picture mode

Denon AVR-3311Cl Receiver

Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player

PS3 Player (used for calculation of bitrates for picture and sound)

5 Mirage Speakers (Front Left/Center/Right, Surround Back Left/Right)

2 Sony Speakers (Surround Left/Right – middle of room)

Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Kevin,

Thank you for the review. Happy to see Universal did a nice job with this release.

It’s quite an entertaining movie, as well as a thought-provoking one, but it can be hard to understand.

I think that is the biggest problem with this film for quite a few people, including myself.

I just had a very difficult time understanding what was happening in this film at various points.

However, what kept me riveted to the screen was the absolutely stunning performance Gary
Oldman. This is a man that conveys so much emotion on screen without saying a single word.
It found it very sad that he didn't walk away with a Best Actor award for his role here.

I would recommend a rental first before purchase. Even if one has a problem following the
action onscreen, the performances by all its participants is just something to behold.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Thanks Kevin. For me it started really slow, but picked up as you could see the pieces coming together. One thing I'm not 100% sure of:



In the last five minutes of the movie there was a "knowing glance" in a flashback scene from the holiday party between Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) and Bill Haydon (Colin Firth). Did the Christmas party happen before or after Jim was shot? I am assuming before, but if so I think it means something different.

At multiple points during the film, I was compelled to rewind a scene or turn the subtitles on to confirm what was happening. From my discussions with several other people who have seen the film, my issue was not an isolated one.)

If you hit the yellow button on your remote, it activates Universal's uHear feature that automatically rewinds the movie a few seconds AND turns on subtitles so you can catch what you missed with just one button press. Its a pretty cool feature that I have used several times.

 

[RolandL]

We rented this and I thought is was very slow. A lot of scenes with no talking, people staring and staring and staring - OK I get it! Not much going on in other scenes. I fell asleep through part of it. Sorry, its probably a great film for most of you.

 

[Peter Neski]

"If you hit the yellow button on your remote, it activates Universal's uHear feature that automatically rewinds the movie a few seconds AND turns on subtitles so you can catch what you missed with just one button press. Its a pretty cool feature that I have used several times."
never knew that !!!

 

[Kevin EK]

I believe that if you hit the yellow button four times in a row, you'll go to an alternate screen where Gary Oldman in character as George Smiley looks directly at the camera and says, "I don't think you want to be doing that, do you?"

Of course that may just be internet balderdash...

 

[Peter Neski]

I wish this transfer ,lab work, and DP were better This is a excellent film!!

 

[Kevin EK]

Peter, is your issue with the transfer, or with the way the movie was filmed?

I thought this was quite a good transfer, reflecting the visual choices they made. It's intentionally grey and drab and gritty. There is intentional murkiness.

But I also respect that you may have found some issues here, and I'd be very happy to hear what they are.

 

[Peter Neski]

Peter, is your issue with the transfer, or with the way the movie was filmed?
This is hard ,I would guess its the way the Movie was filmed ,I am not sure if it has anything to
with the budget ,and didn't see in the theater and not sure if its a bad transfer ,
intentionally grey and drab and gritty, well it looks it ,maybe too much wonderful job of direction,and better
than the Artist for my taste

 

[Doug Pyle]

BEWARE, IF RENTING!
Well, my wife & I were shocked today when viewing this Blu-Ray as a rental from Netflix. Upon attempting to view those "3.5 / 5" rated special features, they were all blocked. The rental version of the blu-ray by Universal seemed to take over my Oppo BDP-95. All special features were locked out, and some usual remote-control buttons didn't work normally (even the "pause" button seems deemed by Universal a "special feature," because we apparently paused for a time that Universal considers too long).
Here is the experience we had tonight when renting the "RENTAL" stamped version of this blu-ray:
1) We put up with forced UNIVERSAL STUDIOS promo showing short cuts from their catalog of movies (tried "MENU" button, but only chapter skip works to by-pass this; can't go direct to a menu).
2) Then, the forced viewing of 5 previews (again, only chapter skip bypasses this. No big deal? Maybe not ... the FIRST time through. Unless you never pause >5 minutes, or try accessing special features, this won't be your last time through these steps!).
3) Started movie. Midway through, hit "PAUSE" to get some food. This took about 5 minutes. Upon return with snack, a blue-silver "UNIVERSAL" screen saver was shimmering on the screen. "Pretty" my wife said. I tried pushing "play." Huh? Won't play? Tried pushing "pause." Nothing but screen saver. Tried again. Put down the Logitech Harmony to try the Oppo remote. Same result. Tried the Oppo "setup" button - THAT was disabled! The STOP button worked. But ... it stopped the movie. Did NOT return to the point where we paused. Deja vu: Go back to step (1) above - skip through promo & 5 previews, then re-find your place in the CHAPTERS feature (well, at least CHAPTERS was not disabled!).
4) Thinking that was an odd experience - note to self: inform Oppo tech support about a glitch playing this blu-ray (I did not yet think to blame the disk) - we resumed finally, and enjoyed the movie.
5) And we enjoyed the interesting plot. Not as thick as it seems at first, but the low-key British tone and great acting kept it feeling mysterious and intelligent. This is not a movie that taxes your home theater system. Still undecided on buying the movie or not. Let's check the special features....
6) So we try "Deleted Scenes" .... But when selecting a feature from the menu, Universal dishes up this message:
> "This disc is intended for Rental purposes and only includes the feature film.
Own it on blu-ray to complete your movie watching experience with additional bonus features and language options"

 

[Johnny Angell]

The forced previews issue occurs on purchased discs as well with only skipping through them working. Since the advent of DVDs studios have controlled the viewing experience. You can't skip brought the legal warnings. Some DVDs won't let you change audio while viewing the movie.
The limiting of the features available on a rental is fairly new, I think. This all comes down to the fact that studios have no respect for their customers and can't design a business model that extends beyond the end of their noses. They are short sighted and see the customer only as a resource to squeeze more money out of.

 

[Kevin EK]

This experience has been mentioned to me when it comes to regular DVDs but I hadn't heard about it being done with Blu-rays yet. It's unfortunate but typical.

There are a couple of wrinkles to this idea.

1. The rental disc only allows the viewer to watch the movie, with very little control over what is happening and no access to special features. The viewer can see the buttons for the special features, but the options have been disabled so that the viewer is teased with something they can't access. The limited access can also spill over into playback as you were noting when the disc froze on pause. For viewers who don't really care about deleted scenes or special features and who just want to watch the movie itself, this is less of an issue. Unless of course you have that freezing problem. But the rental winds up being something along the lines of a screener, where you get very little bang for your buck - you get to see the movie and that's it. One would think that a discount rental of half price or less would be offered for such a disc, since you're not getting the full package.

2. The rental copies of the discs in some cases area not available for a month after the sale copy hits the street. So you can either pony up the 25 bucks to buy the whole cow or wait another 30 days to be able to access a rental copy, which may be disabled in the manner described in #1 above.


There is a way to combat this approach, of course. We've talked on the forum about waiting a bit longer. One approach is to keep track of what releases you're interested in, and then reset your calendar on them back by another 2-3 months so that you can take advantage of significant price reductions from either leftover new unit stock or used copies. It's a pain to do this, but it avoids both steps shown above, and all 8 of the steps endured by Doug.

 

[Ray H]

Sorry to hear your rental experience was less than ideal.
Anyway, I love this movie and this thread popping up is the perfect excuse for me to mention so. I'm also a big fan of the Alec Guinness miniseries. I've actually spent the last few months slowly making my way through most of the Smiley novels! I still feel Tinker Tailor is the best, and I consider it one of the greatest stories ever told. This film is an excellent adaptation. Like the book, it may seem a bit dense at first, but once you know the story, it's immensely entertaining to watch it play out again and again. The movie gets better with each viewing.

Thanks Kevin. For me it started really slow, but picked up as you could see the pieces coming together. One thing I'm not 100% sure of:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

In the last five minutes of the movie there was a "knowing glance" in a flashback scene from the holiday party between Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) and Bill Haydon (Colin Firth). Did the Christmas party happen before or after Jim was shot? I am assuming before, but if so I think it means something different.

I'm 9 months too late, but...

Spoiler

The holiday party definitely takes place before Jim was shot. It's supposed to represent the Circus in its glory days. It's hinted at quite heavily that Jim and Bill were lovers and that glance was there to display some of the unspoken affection they had for one another. I don't recall how explicit it is in the film, but Jim went to Bill the night before he left for his mission and shared some of his uneasy feelings about Control's mole theory. When he finds out it was Bill, it's not just out of simple revenge that Jim does what he does. It's out of the deeply personal emotion of having been betrayed by the person he loved the most in the world.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Doug, if anyone is to blame for starting this trend (which has been going on for almost 2 years now), it is Warner Bros. They began this trend in the Spring of 2010 with the release of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr., delaying all rental chains (except Blockbuster at that time) from receiving a bare-bones rental version for 4 weeks. Universal, Paramount, FOX, and more recently Lionsgate followed suit. And Warner has now pushed that delay date out an additional 4 weeks. This is typically only on major titles, as some smaller films still include many, if not all, of the bonus features from their FOR SALE counterparts, but are still subject to the rental delay window.

Universal, though, is the only studio (that I'm aware of) that uses the same menu design and links on both their sale and rental copies, disabling the bonus features on the rentals. Warner, FOX, Paramount, and Lionsgate use a completely different (and usually static) menu that only lists Play Movie, Setup, and sometimes Previews and Chapter Search. FOX even screwed up when Slumdog Millionaire was released on DVD by mistakenly shipping rental copies as sale copies, and had to setup an exchange program for that. Thankfully, that was only on DVD, and not Blu-ray.