After the exemplary chill of Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Susanne Bier’s slick, sexy television adaption of The Night Manager, this latest John le Carré adaptation feels a little workmanlike by comparison. The story of an academic (Ewan McGregor) and his wife (Naomie Harris) who are drafted in to broker a deal between a Russian gangster (Stellan Skarsgård, excellent) and British intelligence, the film is solid but rarely achieves the tension for which it is clearly aiming. One of the main problems is the look of the picture. Director Susanna White relies heavily on the cliched teal, orange and acid yellow colour palette that has become a visual shorthand for thrillers in the absence of any more interesting ideas.
