This film is so unlike anything I've seen Hollywood churn out recently that I was genuinely staggered. You have to concentrate. Hard. For the entire film. Alfredson gives you no easy routes, and you find yourself crossing your eyes in frustration. Is this a flashback? Is this guy dead? What's happening here? And yet despite how much effort you have to put in, the atmospheric approach makes it seem worth it. A malevolent, dreary London; a secret service turned corrupt bureaucracy. There are no James Bonds here, no glamour. Just paranoia, creeping cynicism, overwhelming nostalgia. Oldman's turn as Smiley is note perfect. Betrayed personally and professionally, doggedly pursuing the truth.

Go in with your thinking hat on. It's worth it.

there are no more morals left to be eroded, no more heroes, just a bunch of weary sociopaths looking for any kind of aesthetic pleasure in a labyrinth of confusion and carnage

I wonder if their way of keeping the audience from getting bored was to confuse the fuck out of them

Dense. Brace yourself. An attentive viewer could find a lot to enjoy here. Unfortunately, my body was not ready.

this film literally feels like the cold war. if it was any more desaturated everyone’s skin would look like chalk.

Unpaid Bill is my favorite character. And it really hurt me when Prideaux was mean to him at the end. It really, really hurt.

A fictional spy flick with a great cast that is an incredibly slow burn.

gary

I HATE how movies like this are sold: as a thriller, when really it's a mystery & a subtle one at that. It seems more to me about character exposition and subtle story-telling than anything else. There's an obvious faithfulness to the book, though I haven't read it, it's subtlety and almost fragmented structure gave that away. I like that. I like movies that make me feel like I'm reading a book. 1970s London is wonderfully brought to life - so atmospheric and dingy & just plain average. Acting just wonderful...god I miss understated stuff like this: less is always more when it comes to acting as far as I'm concerned. Don't understand all the fuss about the plot being convoluted - maybe my reader's mind helped me, I don't know. A really solid and wonderfully moody film.

i didn't know what was happening for 90% of this movie

Honestly so boring. They packed so many characters and plot lines into it that you never care about anyone or anything that happens. Tom Hardy’s character is the only one that has a story you begin to care about and it’s only cursory to the plot of the film. By the conclusion the outcome is soinconsequential that you are more looking for each storyline to end rather than to find out what happened. 

The acting was well done and no person stood out as particularly weak in portraying spies of so many identities. 

The sounds mixing was awful, the dialogue was silent compared to the sound of the music and random noises like people chewing. 

The film was beautiful and it’s ability to play with light while having muted colors really lended itself to the conventions of a spy film. The shining star of this film was easily the cinematographer.