5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Most mainstream spy movies tend to be heavy on action and light on exposition, as the James Bond and Jason Bourne franchises make only too clear. But the world of spies and the intelligence agencies they work for are complex, mysterious beings, and few writers have best captured these complexities as British writer and former spy, John le Carré. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy originally hit screens as a seven part series for television starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The big screen adaptation, in which Gary Oldman successfully takes on the role of Smiley, is certainly a brave attempt to pare down the intricate plotting into a manageable size, but even the most astute and observant viewer is likely to struggle to keep track of all the characters and their hidden motivations. By its very nature, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is elusive, rewarding the viewer's patience and attention as the plot about a mole in British intelligence unravels like an intricately detailed coil. Some critics argued that, in reducing the book to a feature film, the essential back stories and character depth was so lacking that the film became incomprehensible. And yet, while it is frequently bewildering, a second viewing (or perhaps a third, too) shows that everything you need to understand it is there on the screen - you just have to look and listen very hard in order to tease it out.