The premise still provides some fun, but only Le Carre fans with tin ears and clouded eyes will fail to note the film's sour tone, crude performances and drab look.

Boorman wants to turn the novel’s rueful satire into something sharp and sweaty, but the tone veers all over the place, and the plot feels like reckless fantasy.

Boorman has crafted a witty, classy and richly enjoyable morality play, which skewers the mercenary self-interest behind Anglo-American imperialism almost as an afterthought.

Smart and challenging though it may be at times, The Tailor of Panama remains fragmented in unsatisfying ways.