Die Hard With a Vengeance/Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Two For One Posting

You, by now, you’ve figured I like watching the odd movie or two, haven’t you?

Possibly along with that, you’ve possibly also worked out that I manage to get through a lot of DVD’s from the library, AND manage to borrow a few from friends.

And that, boy, I’m looking forward to Brentwood’s cinema finally being completed.

That’s assuming it gets started, of course …

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At any, you’ve worked out I like a film or two.

Which is funny, now I see it written down like that.

Because watching two movies is something I’ve managed to do, since … well …

Yesterday, in point of fact.

In fact the film I caught tonight … ?

Was the DVD version of something I’ve already seen at the cinema, late last year: the Gary Oldman, 2011 version of Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I’ll try and avoid repeating myself, here. But WILL say that having seen it again … ?

Have definitely started to appreciate it, some more …

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

★★★☆

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Next up … ?

Is the film I managed to catch with Kevin D, on Tuesday afternoon.

And you’ve possibly worked out that was Die Hard With A Vengeance*, just by looking at the poster … !

Whatever one chooses to call it, Die Hard With A Vengeance sees Bruce Willis reprising his role as Lieutenant John McClane: McClane is dropped into Harlem, wearing only a sign that says I Hate N*ggers, after a bomb destroys a department store and the terrorist who set it demands McClane be humiliated.

The net result … ?

Is that, as the terrorist — revealed as Simon Grüberº, brother of the antagonist, Hans Grüber, in the original Die Hard — starts to play a gruesome psychological game with McClane, and Zeus Carver — Samuel L Jackson‡ — an innocent bystander and store caught up in the violence, after trying to get McClane — and his incriminating sandwich board — out of Harlem.

With colourful results …

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Now … I’ve got to admit, I’m not usually one for sequels and franchises …

But the Die Hard series — with the possible exception of Die Hard 2 — are always worth checking out, number three no less than the rest.

Personally … ?

I’ll leave you with stars …

Die Hard With A Vengeance

Paul: ★★★☆

Kevin: ★★★☆

Average: ★★★☆

* Now I know Kevin and I will have our disagreements, here: but I WISH the company that made it called it Die Hard 3: Die Hardest. A little continuity would’ve been appreciated: by me, if no-one else … !

º And played by Jeremy Ironsª.

ª I’ve a theory he and Alan Rickman were grown in the same cloning facility in Virginia that gave us the incredibly similar looking Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. And the weird genetic experiment that turned into Keanu Reeves, and his clone sister, kd lang …

‡ The most inherently cool man in Hollywood.

Tinker, Tailor Soldier, Spy: Blood … Guts … And Spymastery …

Phew …

Now THERE’s a how-de-do …

Or at least, there WILL have been a how-de-do: when I finish this post off in the morning.

Suffice to say, I’ve just come back — FAIRLY late — from Basildon, where I’ve been to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

And I’m thinking I’ve certainly seen something …

Interesting …

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22/10/2011: 15:53

Yes, definitely very interesting …

You see, last night saw me, my mum — would you believe — and a couple of old family friends, heading off to Basildon to catch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Directed by Tomas Alfredson — of Let The Right One In fame — and based on the John Le Carré novel of the same name, and set in the early 1970s, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy follows the activities of semi-retired MI6 officer, George Smiley*, as he’s recalled to Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, to help dig up the mole that seems to have worked it’s way into the service.

A mole that seems only to have come to light after an operation in Hungary goes badly wrong: and sees the (apparent) killing of officer Jim Prideauxº and another — Ricky Tarrª — seemingly defecting.

And a mole that seems to possibly one of at least five different people …

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Now …

Here’s the question you’d probably be asking me if you were sitting next to me, right at the moment.

“Paul … ? Is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy any good?”

And I’ve got to admit, I‘d have to stare thoughtfully at the wall^, frown slightly, and say “Hmmm … ”

I do know that — off bat — Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy isn’t: it isn’t a James Bond style spy thriller, so don’t buy a ticket for it, expecting to see one‡.

I do know it’s a very dry, psychological thriller, that focuses very much — as Le Carré himself has said — on the isolation and frustrations suffered by those in the spy trade.

And something that I personally feel that both the book and the original TV series do a lot better: after all, they after a lot more time to tell the same story in.

As to good … ?

Hmmm …

As you’ve probably already worked out, the posters are calling it a masterpiece. I’m not too sure I’d go that far, frankly.

While I think it’s a competently made film, with an incredible performance by Oldman™ as George Smiley, I think the very complexity of the story does hinder it.

So good … ?

Good, I couldn’t tell you, I really couldn’t.

I will leave you with both the trailer … and stars …

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

★★★☆

* Played by Gary Oldman, in this interpretation of the novel, but famously by Alec Guinness in the 1979 BBC television version.

º Mark Strong in the film, and Ian Bannen in the series.

ª The movie version’s played by Tom Hardy: possibly the only person I’ve seen outdo Hywel Bennett, who played the character in the original series.

^ Which need repainting, I think …

‡ Actually, talking of tickets, there’s something of a story to tell, there. Last night, as we were watching Tinker, Tailor, it was stopped, about ten minutes into the film. Just when Gary Oldman’s having a swim in the Serpentine. Seemingly, somebody complained about the quality of the film stock. I can’t say I could complain, frankly: personally, I believed that the graininess — that I’d subconsciously ignored, until it was pointed out — was a deliberate addition, to enhance the retro 1970s feel of the movie. I’m not moaning too much, as we all got a free ticket. But the people who were complaining … ? Did seem to be complaining a little too much to the manageress who’d given them free tickets, AND refunded their money.

™ I’m thinking here, that some of Gary Oldman’s performances — or, at least, the ones I’ve seen, over the years — have deserved assorted gongs: his performance as Jim Gordon in the Batman movies, and as the villain in Leon, in particular. His performance as George Smiley … ? I don’t know if it’s worth an Oscar … But, much like Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, I think it’s certainly worth a nomination†.

† There’s something else, as well. Oldman always seems to hang his performances in a given part on the voice: his interpretation of Dracula being a good example. As Smiley … ? As Smiley, Oldman’s turned in a work of very subtle genius. I don’t think I’ve heard an Received Pronunciation accent like the one he uses in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for some twenty or so years.