It's hard to compete with Alec Guinness's iconic George Smiley in the 1979 miniseries, but Gary Oldman makes his own mark -- still old, still tired, still quiet, but very cold. Guinness had the quiet of a thinker. Oldman has the silence of a predator. He's supported by an astonishingly good cast of British leading lights. I imagine that director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) hardly needs to wring good performances out of them, but they certainly work well together.
It's hard to compete with Alec Guinness's iconic George Smiley in the 1979 miniseries, but Gary Oldman makes his own mark -- still old, still tired, still quiet, but very cold. Guinness had the quiet of a thinker. Oldman has the silence of a predator. He's supported by an astonishingly good cast of British leading lights. I imagine that director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) hardly needs to wring good performances out of them, but they certainly work well together.
A stellar adaptation.