State of Play
Those who enjoy a good conspiracy thriller are in for a treat with State of Play; an intelligent but not too serious thriller that ticks all the necessary boxes for films in this genre. Present and correct are corporate corruption, paranoia and an old-school cynical journalist who discovers, to his horror, that “this-goes-all-the-way-to-the-top”.
The plot is kicked off with an apparently drug related shooting and a suicide in suspicious circumstances. Washington Globe journalist Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is contacted by his old friend and Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), urging him to investigate, and soon links are uncovered between the deaths which lead back to a group of powerful defence contractors.
Crowe is good. In fact, I can’t help but notice he is better in roles where he has longer hair or plenty of stubble. Affleck is less good, though perfectly adequate, and there is terrific support from Helen Mirren as McAffrey’s acid tongued but long suffering editor Cameron Lynne. Elsewhere there are good bit parts for Robin Wright Penn as Collin’s distraught wife Anne and Rachel McAdams as Della Frye, who works alongside McAffrey and helps him uncover the conspiracy. Although he is initially dismissive of her talents (she is a blogger and he doesn’t conceal his disdain for online journalism), McAffrey gradually comes to respect her, and their relationship is refreshingly bereft of romantic complications. Rounding out the supporting cast are Jeff Daniels as a corrupt senator, and rather amusingly Brennan Brown (from the “Don’t let a mobile phone ruin your movie” Orange ads) has a small role which unfortunately made me want to laugh every time he appeared on screen as I expected him to say something silly like “I financed this film so I’ll do as a lizzle”.
Although I haven’t seen the BBC TV series upon which State of Play was based, I understand that it has survived the Hollywood transition surprisingly well. Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity) had a hand in the screenplay, alongside Billy Ray and Matthew Michael Carnahan. In adapting Paul Abbot’s original, their version is certainly very entertaining. It’s also well directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void, One Day in September) who keeps things slightly rough around the edges. One or two set pieces really crank up the suspense – especially one in an underground car park (a favourite setting in this genre).
To summarise, whilst this isn’t in the same league as great 70’s conspiracy thrillers like The Parallax View or The Conversation, not to mention fact based journalistic dramas such as All the President’s Men which it is akin to, State of Play is still very enjoyable stuff.
Simon Dillon, April 2009.
