State of Play (***½)

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels
Seen: June 14th 2009

***½ Out of ****

From the first scene, a man running away from someone without any regard for what he might hit, his fear apparent in his frantic breathing, one knows that State of Play is going to be a good film. And it never disappoints for the entire running time. The young running man is shot in cold blood, and so is a pizza delivery boy driving by on his bike, before the assassin runs off and disappears into the night.

The next thing we see is a young red-headed woman walking into the subway tunnels, and as the camera moves in closer to her and as the train moves by the screen goes dark. The level of intensity never lets down, even in the scenes that don’t directly assault the viewer with intrigue frame by frame. Every actor deserves mention for expressing the taut nature of the film to such an effective degree, with special mention to Russell Crowe, who is an absolute chameleon in front of the camera.

There are constant references to the difference between blogging and printed news, and even a few smart jabs at each of them by the proponent of the other. Cal McAffrey (Crowe) is a reporter for the Washington Globe, and old school type, he still believes in the power of printed media. Della Frye (McAdams) is a young political blogger for the Washington Globe, and she is part of the new age of hourly update blogging reporters. Cal is working on reporting the truth behind the double murder of the two men who are shot at the start of the film, and Della is reporting on the effect the death of the young red-headed woman, Sonia, has on Congressman Steven Collins (Affleck). It becomes public knowledge that Congressman Collins was having an affair with Sonia, the lead researcher on his staff looking into the activities of private contractors in the defence industry, which adds another level of complexity to things.

As things become more and more complicated, the two reporters are under increased stress from both the police, who accuse them of interfering with their investigations, and their boss, Cameron Lynne (Mirren), who accuses them of killing good news to advance their own investigations. Chasing news, the reporters and some of those around them are endangered again and again, with the tension rising each time. The intrigue keeps building with layer after layer of surprises being peeled back through great reporting, attentiveness to details, and a little bit of luck as information comes to the light that leads our investigative reporters along.

State of Play is a great thriller, keeping the viewer on the edge of the seat straight through, and by now we’d expect almost nothing less from a Russell Crowe film. Enjoy.