State of Play (2009)

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

State Of PlayThe first act is wasted upon introducing the characters and setting their sub-plots after which the analyzation of the investigation is chewed off way too much in its overlong second act that barely seeks attention until the last act arrives that flips one's whole opinion and expectations that they have been carrying around the whole feature. Kevin McDonald doesn't fail on executing the tension on the screen but the real culprit is the script that never had enough crisp to hold the audience for around 2 hours. Russell Crowe is decently good along with a great supporting cast like Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. State Of Play has a great cast and is in safe hands on terms of executing the words but unfortunately these words aren't intriguing enough to invest in it.

State of Play here shows Russell Crowe starring as veteran reporter Cal McAffrey, who believes a good story is tracked down and researched properly. While looking into the two murders he crosses paths with Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), who is in charge of the on line political blog run by the paper. A young woman with ties to Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) has apparently committed suicide. Frye knows that McAffrey and Collins were one time college roommates and hopes he can provide some inside information. When it appears that the opening killings and the woman's death could be related, the two team up to uncover a mystery that could rock the nation. The hardest part about crafting a good political thriller is making sure the various twists and turns eventually end to a satisfactory ending.However, apparently If you throw the audience too many red herrings they'll quickly lose interest and not care about your heroes. In the end, the final product is as expected, as State of Play starts off relatively show but within the second act, becomes much of a fascinating and thrilling story. Several twists and turns along the end, keep the film focused and engaging.

As a fan of the "political thriller" genre, I had been very disappointed in the recent fare from that category that I had viewed. It seemed as if either all the answers were given up front (rendering the rest of the film rather boring), or the filmmakers tried to cram every revelation into the last few minutes. Fortunately, "State of Play" does neither, instead relying on terrific pacing that will keep you into the plots and guessing all the way to the end.The basic plot of the film centers on two reporters, played by Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams, for a dying (aren't they all these days?) newspaper. As they begin work on a seemingly simple story involving a murder, they come to find that its threads are much deeper than what some in the government would want them to believe.Though this seems like the standard fare for the political thriller genre, the pacing (an under- used criterion in filmmaking these days) is so excellent that it never feels old or stale. With seemingly each passing minute, a new element is introduced into the lives of either the characters or the unfolding mystery plot. Never once did I find myself glancing at the VCR timer to see how much was left...I was enthralled by the entire story.In the acting department, Crowe turns in another stellar performance as a hard-nosed journalist who doesn't mind doing some dirty work to feed the journalistic machine. McAdams also shows how versatile she can be (how many actresses could pull off Mean Girls, Nicholas Sparks fare, and this sort of thriller in a career?) as Crowe's sidekick who slowly becomes so much more. About the only disappointment is Ben Affleck as a U.S. Congressman...it seems as if he is just kind of sleep-walking through his screen time.The final aspect that pushes this film somewhere between "above-average" and "excellent" is the plot's grounding in real-life issues. While working for a large newspaper run by an editor (Helen Mirren) who knows what needs to be done for the business to survive in these times, Crowe and McAdams' characters are constantly challenged by how far they should go to uncover their story. The angle isn't overly preachy, which is always a plus, instead trying to show the reality of the situation.Thus, if able, I would give this film a 4.5 star rating. Though it doesn't have quite enough memorable "oomph" to be truly a classic (I watched it two weeks ago and already the details are beginning to fade), it delivers a very entertaining two hours filled with twists, turns, and interesting characters.

Ah yes, another liberal nightmare fantasy flick, this time about the threat of a private defense contractor - and if anyone thinks the "PointCorps" of the flick is not supposed to be Blackwater, please seek treatment for terminal naivete - who is secretly seeking to take control of American society. Of course, how this is supposed to happen when defense budgets are getting slashed to the bone under liberal governance is a mystery. If you want a real nightmare scenario, someone should make a flick about how the kudzu-like tentacles of the federal bureaucracy in the form of the IRS, the EPA, the FDA, the FTC, the Education Department, HHS, HUD and the whole alphabet soup of unelected bureaucrats is insinuating itself into every aspect of our lives. But considering the moonbat crowd that runs Hollywood, I'm not holding my breath. Considered purely as an action/mystery flick this isn't bad as pure entertainment, but the political overtones are offputting.