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So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent but underrated film

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I'm usually a sucker for these British spy stories so when I saw the good reviews and started watching (tho not expecting another Tinker Tailor) I was expecting to be entertained on at least some level.Oh dear. 'disappointment' would be too kind a word.First of all, not too many minutes in, it becomes apparent that the lead actor has no qualities whatsoever. A blank. Well I take that back, he has boyish good looks which is totally out of place for his character. He might be a good actor, but one would never know it from this series. However the bad (or non) acting is not restricted to him. This aspect is spread pretty evenly throughout the cast who all are vying for top honors in this department with the exception being Brian Cox and a couple of the minor characters.The stupid and uninspired script shows that however talented the writer was on other projects, this kind of story is not up his street. Ridiculous plot development and inane, clichéd dialog does not help the actors who undoubtedly are shown to poor advantage. As someone else pointed out, if the 'tradecraft' of these amateur hour intelligence folks was used in real life (whatever that is), the West would have gone under along time ago. However, the director should not be held blameless when all else is so bad. Aren't directors supposed to make silk purses...On a happier note, the photography of the series is very goodBelieve me, I hate to dump on all these people as I know they tried to make something good. Unfortunately it did not work out.

The premise is this: a Soviet agent holed up as a university professor in England gets called up for a major operation that consists in waking up sleeper cells in numbers for an unstated grievous purpose. He defects and spills the beans to the MI5. The MI5 - represented, for the most part, by the love-child of Morrissey and a flock of cats (Tom Hughes) - expects the worst and stands up to the challenge, monitoring the operation in desperate hope that they may get one step ahead of the Russians. Needless to say, with 6 hour-long episodes, it's easier said than done. All this takes place in the bleak environs of early-1970s London, in cramped spaces, dilapidated housing, and persistent rain (reminiscent of "Se7en"). The series is well-made and entertaining. The pace - initially somewhat pedestrian - quickens by the 4th episode to get you panting by the 5th. At first, the drama seems very facile - seeming to boil down to a personal duel between Tom Hughes's "Joe Lambe" and a KGB killer on the loose in England. But there's enough of side story to this to keep you thinking there's more to it than that. And, frankly, you do get rewarded. On the technical side, the editing is near-perfect and the acting is pretty good, too. I was stuck on Victoria Hamilton' performance in "Mansfield Park," but she's a completely different thing here, with enormous self-assurance and power. Brian Cox is also a perfect hit as the head of MI5 ("Daddy"). If anything, it's Hughes that seems rather odd - his appearance and demeanor is somewhat out of place. On the one hand, this may be a virtue, since he does portray a far less bleak character than it initially appears. On the other hand, he's anachronistic - a poster-boy for the new romantic or a candidate for a remake of "Anna Karenina." The portrayal of "the game" resonates with all that an avid reader of le Carre will know - that it's almost never fun and games, and that it's not about the spectacular at all. The "games" we see played out in the series are not just about espionage - they are also about the personal lives of the characters who either play or get played. While it's not on level with the classic le Carre stuff with Alec Guinness, there's enough substance here to make you hope there's more to come from this source. This is really good enough to see.

The Game is an absolutely first rate Cold War mini-series from the BBC set in the 1970's. The 70's feel is palpably conveyed through the authentic use of the fashions, hairstyles, vehicles and music from that decade. The plot is complex and intelligent with lots of twists and turns and will appeal to Le Carré fans. The acting is absolutely superb all round. The scenes inside the Security Service show that most of the people working there are paper shufflers rather than James Bond action types which is probably a more realistic portrayal. My only gripe is that it was only 6 episodes but as is often the case with the BBC, quality trumps quantity. If I could only have one station on my pay TV service it would definitely be the BBC. The quality of British productions in recent times, both on the big screen (e.g. Tinker Tailor, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything) and small screen (The Game, Peaky Blinders, The Honourable Woman), has been absolutely outstanding.

The BBC continues to embarrass the American "entertainment" industry with serious actors who are not rap stars, TV hosts or wrestlers. The difference in quality is apparent from the start. That said, The Game is one of the best. I remember those times and especially the awful 1970's when it seemed that a USSR victory was almost inevitable. I remember being amazed that anyone in a liberal democracy would choose to betray their country for a backward, despotic nation that didn't even pretend to care about human rights.The cinematography editors are to be congratulated for their portrayal of a London caught up in spies, the IRA and militant unions. The moody, dark atmosphere is near perfection as are the characters. Paul Ritter as the grown gay male smothered by a domineering mother is brilliant. Each episode solves a new problem that only raises the stakes. The question of what is real and what is fake and in the end, what is the Game, is slowly explored and finally answered.