This adaptation of John Le Carre's novel suffers from a ham fisted script and sloppy editing. Gary Oldham is excellent as George Smiley and most of the other characters are more than cardboard cut-outs. Sadly the film lacks coherency, some of the flash-backs are confusing and at times the scenes seem unrelated. I did enjoy the film but had to make an effort to make sense of it in places and suspect if I had not read the book it would have been difficult to follow. I give it four stars, three for the film and an extra one for Oldham's portrayal of George Smiley.
