State of Play (2009)
State of Play, which features quite an impressive cast and a plot that combines some of the most popular topics being debated, is for the most part an enjoyable conspiracy thriller. A surprise turn near the end makes the film fall into the sub-genre of “smart” thrillers, which is probably best represented by The Usual Suspects. However, in the case of this film, the surprise twist doesn’t add much to the plot and feels instead like a cop-out to quickly wrap up the film, which is frustrating for me.
The film stars Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, with Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn and Jeff Daniels (to name a few) playing support. The plot follows a newspaper reporter, Cal McAffrey (Crowe), who is investigating the scandal surrounding his old friend and US congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck). The gist of the scandal is the death of Collins’ female aide, who was leading the probe on a private defense contractor PointCorp, and who is revealed to be in an affair with Collins. As McAffrey digs into the story, he realizes that PointCorp seems to be running a massive conspiracy, and he finds himself running against time and the threat of his own life to uncover the truth.
The plot is fairly generic conspiracy material, but the private defense contractor topic makes it interesting. In addition, a sub-plot is around the death of the newspaper industry, and how that’s affecting reporters – McAffrey’s boss Cameron (Mirren) is much more interested in selling more papers, regardless of the story, while McAffrey is still clinching to the ideals of journalism. Della Frye (McAdams), who becomes McAffrey’s sidekick, comes from the Internet side of the paper, and the clash between the two is also an interesting sub-topic.
In the end, this is quite a standard industry production, and there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking. It is good material for those who want a more complicated plot to thrillers, and the pace of the film is generally well constructed. Solid entertainment.
7/10