Friendlyskies.netSecond Viewing: State of Play (2009)
My rating: 4 out of 5 · Experience it yourself
Would watch another time, too. This is a good film. It is very well written and full of twists. Crowe is good at playing the antihero.
On review, one noticeable flaw in the film is that the major plot twist does not hold up well under repeated viewings. There isn’t enough weight behind the twist to make it believable. However, I wouldn’t deduct points for it. The twist is still shocking and memorable.
News chief Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) is a fantastic character and fits in like a hand-crafted puzzle piece. She provides just the right kind of pressure from the top, demonstrating the kind of balance that the writers wove into the story.
I’m out of time, so I’ll just mention that I thought the end credits were a fantastic end cap on what was, in essence, a subliminal tribute to 20th century-style journallism.
I want to believe that core set of traditional journalistic values is really still out there, and I’m glad I’m not alone in that.