This British spy-thriller film based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré is very entertaining if just for watching the great talent Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final leading role before his tragic death in February 2014. Since we're talking about le Carré, espionage is the main ticket. In post-9/11 Hamburg where the infamous Mohammed Atta and his terrorists planned their attack, the authorities are hyper-vigilant about nipping any further conspiracies in the bud. Hoffman leads a shadowy German police unit responsible for tracking down and intercepting any new terrorists that hit town. Issa Karpov, a half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant, shows up, and Hoffman is on his tail to figure out what bad stuff Karpov has in mind. The intricate plot is filled with crosses and double-crosses, much like a Cold War spy drama would unfold. At times, I thought I was seeing a Cold War picture except everybody was using cell phones. Hoffman smokes a cigarette or has a drink in every scene like in an old forties film noir. Rachel McAdams plays a starry-eyed lawyer, and Robin Wright is a wary CIA agent. The favorable reviews are spot-on if you enjoy viewing intelligent spy flicks without a lot of violence.
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