Review: State of Play

Real investigative journalism, I have been told, is about facts, conviction and the courage to stand tall in the face of adversity, ala Woodward and Bernstein. In real life, though, it’s altogether a different ball game. Working in a newspaper, I’ve realized true journalism doesn't hold much water against the immutable law of business: ‘Thou shalt not throw a spanner in the wheels of Profit (read: advertisers)’.

Still, fiction demands certain liberties, so we will take a page out of Rahul Dravid’s style and leave this one well outside the off stump. State of Play is no All The President’s Men, but it’s still not a movie to be missed out on.

Directed by Kevin MacDonald, the film has a stellar star cast with names such as Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Rachel McAdams and Ben Affleck. This one almost slipped under my radar given the low amount of publicity it received – given that it’s summer time in the US, networks aren’t quite interested in marketing anything that doesn’t have ‘blockbuster material’ written all over it. But, being a patient man with a good amount of free time, I saw the movie because movies about journalism interest me. And hey, it’s Russell Crowe – how bad could it be?

State of Play is a good remake of a British television series of the same name, which aired in 2003. In the movie, Crowe plays Cal McAffery, a crime journalist who is somewhat of a relic in this new age of Internet blogging. But being a good traditional reporter, he has his contacts in every related department in the city, where he can sniff out a good story.

Russell Crowe as “Cal McAffery, a Journalist in the Washington Globe

The film starts with a petty thief being murdered for apparently no reason whatsoever by a professional assassin (depicted by two gun shots, one in the head and the other in the heart). What's strange about the incident is the critical wounding of another innocent passerby – a fact that grabs Crowe’s attention.

This is followed by another mysterious incident where a young girl is killed in a subway. She just happens to be the lead research attendant at the office of Congressman Stephan Collin (Ben Affleck) and also a secret lover of the ‘happily married’ congressman. A little digging around reveals that his office is investigating the US-Iraq war and the US government’s outsourcing policies related to it.

What follows is a chance discovery by Crowe to arrive at a larger, sinister plot where politics, business and war merge to make for one roller coaster of a ride complete with deception, intrigue and pot boiler situations.

Congressman Collins investigating the outsourcing of US Army Defense contracts

Here’s a bit of a spoiler, but honestly, there’s no way you couldn’t have seen this coming: Yes, this is another conspiracy movie about the US government’s secret hush-hush cover-ups. This time it involves PointCorp (a company loosely crafted after Blackwater, infamous for killing of 17 Iraqi civilians during the war), the US Army and its malpractice of outsourcing international defence contracts – namely getting ex-militia mercenaries to fight the wars in Iraq in the name of world peace and WMD’s.

The movie gets a bit loose towards the end, when it bites a bit more than it can chew after Crowe realises that ‘outsourced’ international warfare is just the beginning and the ultimate aim of this conspiracy is the outsourcing of the fabled Home Land Security of America.

A thought after watching the movie, was the amount of interpersonal relations and addition of new characters seem like a vestigial remnant of a television series building the complexity of its main characters hoping to add another season after a successful first. This level of complexity works in a series where the writer has reel time to develop it. But in a movie, if not handled well, can seem pretty confusing and force fitted.

Mirren, McAdams and Crowe playing characters which are probably more documented in the TV series

For example: The history between Crowe and Affleck going back to their college days where they were dorm buddies. A connection that is touched very lightly and taken for granted by the script writers. Another example is a past affair between Crowe and Affleck' wife Anne Collins played by Robin Wright Penn - an angle which would have had significant focus in the series but has to be deciphered by the viewer in the movie.

Congressman Collins and McAffrey reminisce their old college days

Characterization is where the movie excels. I liked the character of Helen Mirren who plays Cameron Lynne, the publisher of the Washington Globe. Well characterized and fits the bill of a publisher perfectly, she walks the thin line between a good story and sound business woman.

Hard nosed publisher Cameron Lynne played by Helen Mirren

Rachel McAdam playing Della Frye is a rookie online blogger for the Globe. And as with any young entrant in the field of journalism she dreams of making it big. She does get her wish fulfilled as she is unwillingly paired with Crowe who like a seasoned but fair veteran manipulates her to do the dirty ground work of following up on a potential story.

Rachel MacAdams as a cub online reporter in the Globe

What I didn't like though is the lack of use of Jeff Daniels as Republican George Fergus. His character is probable a very important one but somehow mysteriously ignored. A great loss as I think Daniels is an underrated actor able to deliver some crackling performances in 'The Squid and the Whale' and 'Good Night and Good Luck'.

Still, credit is due to the men behind the movie who have done a remarkable job to create a good two hour shortened version of an entire season and make it an gripping one too.

All in all, this is a highly enjoyable movie when you are in pensive mood and do make sure that you get the subtitles on as the dialogues can get a bit heavy during certain scenes.

Rating: 7/10