Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

James Bond is the face of British super spies, but Gary Oldman might be the only guy cool enough to challenge him for the crown.

Set in the 1973, Britain's vaunted MI6 is under attack. After a mission goes horribly wrong, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) and the leader of MI6, Control (John Hurt), are forced out by a group of ambitious agents. However, Control suspects a mole within the agency is feeding information to the Soviets, and one of those ambitious agents is right in the middle of it as they brag about an operation supposedly providing valuable Soviet intelligence to the British and Americans.

When a powerful member of the government asks Smiley to investigate claims made by MI6 agent Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy), it becomes quite apparent something is amiss at the highest echelons of the agency, and only one of their own can figure it out.

Who is the mole?

Percy Alleline (Toby Jones)?

Bill Haydon (Colin Firth)?

Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds)?

Toby Esterhase (David Dencik)?

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the movie for those who like their films to simmer rather than explode, so Michael Bay will be seen running and screaming from the nearest movie theater in Hollywood showing this one, while the rest of us should be running into that theater.

Director Tomas Alfredson creates a tense movie without the theatrics. We are drawn in by the chase, but it is a race to gather information and decipher its meaning, instead of a big car chase. We take in the facts, and let Alfredson ignite our imaginations and minds.

Most of all, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a chance to see Oldman at work at the highest levels (as if he has any other level). It's fun, exciting and fascinating to watch him as Smiley to be thinking, processing, wondering what is going on and putting the puzzle pieces together. It's a restrained performance to show us the man who realizes he cannot lose control or it will jeopardize his ability to think straight and accomplish the mission, even when confronted with a situation that would cause most men to throttle someone.

Make sure you pay attention, or you might miss something important, which is kind of exciting for me to say, since many movies have so little to pay attention to.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is rated R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language