Extra Time: the easy guide to Blu-ray and DVD extras
Extra Hot
Two interviews form the bulk of the attraction from the limited selection of extras available on the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Blu-ray, the subjects being John le Carré and Gary Oldman. Le Carré's interview, pleasingly presented in HD, provides insight into what the erudite author thinks of Smiley, the book and Alfredson's adaptation. The author is one of those interviewees where the question being asked really doesn't matter; he's happy to talk, at length, on a plethora of subjects, giving his opinion that his original story is 'plausible, not authentic' and praising Alfredson for pursuing his own vision of the narrative. It's a great few minutes in his company. Oldman, though less willing to talk, is another insightful interview if only for the fact that it shows just how much of a skilled creation Smiley is.
Extra Not
The featurettes are fine but like a lot of featurettes they spend a lot of time replaying bits of the film and of the various interviews already on the disc and not a lot of time adding anything new to the discussion of the film. Colin Firth's interview is short and to the point and Tom Hardy's even more so, the soon-to-be Bane seeming very eager to get the hell out of there. The absence of a 'making of' is puzzling.
Extra Everything
The Tomas Alfredson/Peter Straughan interview is the best of the rest of the interviews and the fact that it is Alfredson and Oldman themselves on commentary duty is nice to see but there's not a huge amount else here of interest, apart from the inclusion of the audio books although I'm not sure what purpose they serve on a blu-ray. It rather seems as though they got lost.
The full list of material includes;
- Commentary with Gary Oldman and director Tomas Alfredson
- John le Carré Interview
- Deleted Scenes
- Smiley featurette
- Inside the Circus featurette
- Shadow World featurette
- Interview with Colin Firth
- Interview with Tom Hardy
- Interview with Director Tomas Alfredson and screenwriter Peter Straughan
- UK Premiere featurette
- Sky Movies featurette
- Photo Gallery
- Trailers
Extra Rating
The absence of a 'making of' on any disc nowadays classes as a massive oversight and the material that is here wavers from incisive to inconsequential.
Extra Film
Everything that was right with the film is still right with the film. It's a fantastic achievement and the look and feel of the whole thing is well paraded over by Alfredson's justly-conserved direction. The montage at the end, set to music, feels more out of place the more I watch it. See the Film Intel review for further details.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on Monday 30th January 2012.
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