Fairly interesting Le Carre adaptation with a familiar theme; Good Guys vs Bad Guys with an Everyman stuck in the middle, with no way out. Not an awful lot going on, and with incessant, portentous (and pretentious) background music indicating danger ahead, which doesn't come. Or when it comes it's not that dangerous.
One of the disappointments for me was the lack of a staunch hero to commandeer the picture. Instead, we got Ewan McGregor, who wimped his way through the movie and seemed half-hearted and uninterested; 'leading from behind', I think, is the term in current usage.The one bright spot in the film was Stellan Skarsgard, who plays the traitor in question. He was the title character, crude and vulgar but a big-hearted slob you couldn't help rooting for. He did the best he could to raise the subject matter up from tedium, and almost succeeded.
It is July and I wonder if we're going to get a "summer blockbuster" this year that we can recommend to all our friends. So far, we have a collection of animated kid's pictures doing great at the box office, so if your friends are aged 7 or below they've had several to recommend to you.
One of the disappointments for me was the lack of a staunch hero to commandeer the picture. Instead, we got Ewan McGregor, who wimped his way through the movie and seemed half-hearted and uninterested; 'leading from behind', I think, is the term in current usage.The one bright spot in the film was Stellan Skarsgard, who plays the traitor in question. He was the title character, crude and vulgar but a big-hearted slob you couldn't help rooting for. He did the best he could to raise the subject matter up from tedium, and almost succeeded.
It is July and I wonder if we're going to get a "summer blockbuster" this year that we can recommend to all our friends. So far, we have a collection of animated kid's pictures doing great at the box office, so if your friends are aged 7 or below they've had several to recommend to you.