| Director: | Tomas Alfredson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer: | John le Carre, Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Starring: | Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, John Hurt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released: | January 19, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Runtime: | 125 minutes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Story: |
The time is 1973. The Cold War of the mid-20th Century continues to damage
international relations. Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a.k.a.
MI6 and code-named the Circus, is striving to keep pace with other countries'
espionage efforts and to keep the U.K. secure. The head of the Circus, known
as Control (John Hurt), personally sends dedicated operative Jim Prideaux
(Mark Strong) into Hungary. But Jim's mission goes bloodily awry, and Control
is forced out of the Circus - as is his top lieutenant, George Smiley (Gary
Oldman), a career spy with razor-sharp senses.
Estranged from his absent wife Ann, Smiley is soon rehired in secret at the government's behest, as there is a gnawing fear that the Circus has long been compromised by a double agent, or mole, working for the Soviets and jeopardizing England. Supported by younger agent Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley parses Circus activities past and present. In trying to track and identify the mole, Smiley is haunted by his decades-earlier interaction with the shadowy Russian spy master Karla. The mole's trail remains cold until maverick field agent Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) unexpectedly contacts his handler, Guillam. While undercover in Turkey, Ricki has fallen for a betrayed married woman, Irina, who claims to possess crucial intelligence. Separately, Smiley learns that Control narrowed down the list of mole suspects to five men. They are the ambitious Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), whom he had code-named Tinker; suavely confident Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), dubbed Tailor; stalwart Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds), called Soldier; officious Toby Esterhase (David Dencik), dubbed Poor Man; and Smiley himself, tagged as Spy. Even before the startling truth is revealed, the emotional and physical tolls on the players enmeshed in the deadly international spy game will escalate. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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