Tense and gripping, with plenty of twists and turns, good acting and some incredibly relevant messages.
As a film, for entertainment, topnotch. I found myself utterly engaged and mostly baffled by how it was going to unfold - for me, this is what film entertainment is all about.
Russel Crowe plays a tough Washington journalist who's seen a lot of life on the other side of boundary - he's savvy, he's dedicated and he's a maverick. In terms of characterization: he's the old hand - it's all about investigation and follow-up, hunches and connections, last minute copy and "stop the presses" - everything journalism has been at its best.
Rachel Adams portrays a young, savvy, blogger who's all about getting out the story right now, who spends more time in front of the computer than on the streets - who writes well, but doesn't know how to dig for the real story behind the sensational headlines.
Both of them are thrown into a double murder - a junkie and a nice young may, both shot and killed professionally within 20 feet of each other ... any connection? And then like a freight train out of control, the story hurtles into ever greater depths of corruption.
Ben Affleck is a young and up-coming Congressman dedicated to exposing the shady war dealings of a powerful multi-corporation behemoth with plenty of money from government contracts and plenty of hired guns.
Robin Wright Penn is the Congressman's wife - a marginal presence in the story, but a key part right at the end.
Helen Mirren is her wonderful self as the editor - hard-nosed and driving, and utterly frustrated by the possible demise of this once great newspaper, now under new ownership, and it's no longer about the story, it's all about sales.
As the story unfolds, it takes a lot of twists and turns, but with good directing (Kevin Macdonald) and editing, there's never moment of confusion - just good story-telling.
As for relevance - wow! As the years of the Bush Administration are held up to the light of scrutiny, it would seem that folks like Blackwater and who knows how many of the ruling party were in cahoots for big money and power. If big-city newspapers are no longer about the story, but only the sales, it would seem that some parts of the government, in clandestine partnership with covert operations, are no longer about the people but the profits.
As for journalism - what's happening? With the demise of the newspaper industry, the Fourth Estate, who will be the watchdog for society - who's going to put on a porkpie hat and smoke unfiltered cigarettes and hang around the police station, stop in for a drink at a seedy bar, and comb through old files?
Like the mortgage industry that succumbed to too many 20-somethings who knew all about the money but nothing about the industry, will the journalism world become nothing but tabloid blogs, long on sensation and short on story?
I don't know, but the Fourth Estate is one of the anchors of democracy, watchdogs of truth.
This is fine fim, and if you want only entertainment, this will provide it, but if you're looking for entertainment with some provocative questions, this is one to see.
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