MovieChat Forums > Our Kind of Traitor (2016) Discussion > 7.5. You have to like Le Carre to enjoy

7.5. You have to like Le Carre to enjoy

posted 8 years ago by mail-2217
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If you think it's slow? Lacking in action? You don't like Le Carre. Real spy movies aren't for you.

But if you are a fan of Smiley's People or Constant Gardener, it's pretty good. Damian is tremendous. Skarsgard makes -any- movie he's in more fun.

If you find the ending a bit 'pat' or a few bits slightly preachy? Well, I haven't read all of Le Carre, but I think that's what happened to John as the years went by... his books seem to be more preachy. They have more of a POV. They occasionally have a genuine 'happy ending'. So this movie just reflects that.

Anyhoo. I dunno what this means but: I definitely want to see this again... much more so than when I saw 'Bridge Of Spies'.

Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement... Listen, kid, we're all in it together.

[–] liakyh 8 years ago

Tinker Tailor was a master class on making a spy movie. It's interesting that you brought up preachiness. I've read his earlier books (Call for the Dead, Spy Who Came in From the Cold) while watching, rather than reading, his later works (Constant Gardener, Night Manager, A Most Wanted Man) so I never noticed this gradual change in tone (due to the big difference in medium). But now that you mentioned it, Constant Gardener share a lot of parallels with Our Kind of Traitor, down to the bad guys getting their comeuppance even after the protagonist.. well kind of anyway.. has supposedly been silenced permanently.

[–] mail-2217 8 years ago

In his earlier books there are no truly happy endings. For -me-, the greatness of Smiley is that he 'wins', but by then neither he or Karla care. They're broken by their war.

Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement... Listen, kid, we're all in it together.