State of Play
The film State of play is well-crafted thriller that trails in the background of Congress Halls and a Newspaper office. The movie also touches upon the theme of politics; Pointcorp is the antihero of the film, which is a ghostly corporation that deals with the government for security duties and professional soldiers in Iraq.
The corporation is very similar to an outfit that would use hit men to kill and the plot of the film is based on whether such an organization will murder to safeguard its gains.
The lead role was offered to Brad Pitt initially who made an exit and Crowe filled in. Crowe plays an investigative reporter Cal McAffrey for “The Washington Globe”. His job is very demanding that keeps him on his toes and he is familiar to the cops and most of the people in Capitol Hill. And that makes him an expert in the field. Probably Brad Pitt would have been better in the role in terms of looks but Crowe has an edge and he makes the role more appealing.
Cal is the rugged hero who is apprehensive about the political turmoil that will take the media industry by storm and he starts working with a team of inexperienced reporters; Della (Rachel Adams) is a gutsy blogger and Cal teaches her a few tips on reporting especially the political scandals.
Cal gets to cover the story of the man who was shot in a lane and the person who witnessed the killing also dies and a woman is killed under the train. During a legislative hearing into Pointcorp, Rep. Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) discloses his affair with the dead woman who was a researcher and his wife Anne (Robin Wright) is a strong lady and assures that their family stays united.
The politician’s wife Anne and Cal were in a relationship during their college days. The dead man had actually stolen a briefcase from Pointcorp and this gives us a clue to the jigsaw. The film unravels many surprises and thus keeps the thrilling element alive.
There is a criminal nexus between the Pointcorp and the government who are leaking the taxpayer’s money into wrong hands. And to crack this scandal there is one hardcore reporter with his teammate Della. Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) is the editor of the “The Washington Globe” who plays a major part in investigating the political scandal. Amidst Cameron is under severe pressure by the newspaper owners who expect her to cover gossips and scoops, give a new look to the front page and be economical. In spite of all this Cal and his colleague solve the mystery in the end.
The director of the film Kevin McDonald has featured some brilliant performances. Crowe has done a good job as a reporter and so has Helen Mirren is very convincing as the editor. Ben Affleck stands out in his role.
The movie has a great a great plot and starts off with a good pace only to disperse later, probably there was too much to deal with in a short duration and all the suspense is revealed quite easily that makes you think if corporations such as Pointcorp would be exposed in this fashion they will hardly survive in the business.
The film is rated PG-13 for content on violence as well as sexual references and content on drugs.
Film: State of Play
Cast: Russell Crowe as Cal McAffrey, Ben Affleck as Stephen Collins, Rachel McAdams as Della Fryre, Helen Mirren as Cameron Lynne, Robin Wright Penn as Anne Collins, Jason Bateman as Dominic Foy, Jeff Daniels as Rep. Fergus
Directed by: Kevin Macdonald
Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray
Run time: 2 hours and 7 minutes
Rating: 3.5/5
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Posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm