Apr 15 2009
See It: State of Play
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of State of Play since I took a peek at the flick’s IMDB page several month’s back. The film is packed with talent. I’m not just talking about the star power of Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. The film is directed by Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland) and boasts the talents of skilled suspense scribes Tony Gilroy (The Bourne movies, Michael Clayton) and Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach). Even the smaller acting roles in the film are filled by engaging actors like Dollhouse‘s Harry Lenix, Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s Maria Thayer and Doubt‘s Oscar-nominated Viola Davis. To top it all off, the film is based on a very good BBC miniseries. I think it should go without saying that I had pretty high expectations going into this film. I’m happy to report that I was not let down.
The plot of this film is incredibly dense, I’m actually amazed that they managed cram all of the content into the 127 minute running time without it feeling overly long. It’s a political conspiracy thriller that centers on two seemingly unconnected crimes. The first is the shooting of a young drug addict and a pizza boy, the second is the death, and presumed suicide, of a pretty young aid (Thayer) to an up-and-coming congressman, Stephen Collins (Affleck). The two stories are being investigated by reporters for the Washington Globe newspaper. The first by the crusty veteran, Cal McAffrey (Crowe, getting his schlub on) and the latter by bright-eyed blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). The cast of characters is rounded out by Helen Mirren as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Robin Wright Penn as Collins’s wife, Jeff Daniels as his mentor and Jason Bateman as a friend of the deceased girl.
The writing, directing and acting are all in very good form here. The twists in the film are expertly unfurled. Even having seen the miniseries its based on, they still managed to surprise me a little (though I suppose that has more to do with my belief that Hollywood would take the teeth out of the plot), which I’m sure is a testament to the talents of Gilroy and Ray (no offense to Matthew Michael Carnahan, I’m certain his contributions to the film were very good, as well, he just doesn’t have the track record the other guys do). Macdonald does a good job, too, though I must admit, there were a couple little directing ticks of his that I found unnecessarily distracting (two words: looming helicopters). The cast is, unsurprisingly, stunning to watch. I like both Crowe and Affleck quite a bit, but I think they’ve both suffered from poor film choices throughout their careers and it’s really great to see them with roles here that they can sink their teeth into. The age difference (Crowe’s 8 years Affleck’s senior) between the actors did bother me a little since they’re supposed to be old college roommates, especially since the source material has the characters in the more believable politician and former campaign manager roles. Still, both guys fit into these roles so snuggly. Affleck, specifically, shows a subtlety in this performance that I think a lot of people will be very surprised to see. McAdams, Mirren, Daniels and Bateman all give excellent turns, as well.
There were definitely some things that I missed from the miniseries, but there were no gaping holes. In fact, most of the stuff that’s gone, I didn’t expect to make it to this adapatation in the first place. In fact, I found myself much more impressed with what they added. They’ve really done a fantastic job of adapting the atmosphere of the story to match the current climate of politics and journalism in this country. The push and pull between Crowe’s old media journalist and and McAdams’s blogger works really well and, as someone who works on the web side at a print publication, it was all very familiar to me. Mirren’s character constantly gives voice to the financial trouble the newspaper is in, something all too relatable in the current economic climate, with papers folding and declaring bankruptcy left and right. Another change, in the miniseries, Stephen Collins was a figurehead on the energy committee and the conspiracy angle that McAffrey was tracking involved an oil company. Here, they’ve changed it to a thinly-veiled version of defense contractor Blackwater, which I think is much more in line with where the political zeitgeist in this country is right now. It also just seems like less of a stretch to imagine a defense contracting company potentially killing someone than an oil company, since they actually have the resources to do so readily available.
What I love most about State of Play is that it breaks the standard boundaries of Hollywood thrillers and dares to be a movie about ideas. It manages to be riveting without any huge action set pieces or a forced romantic relationship. Of the wide cast of players in the story, there is no shining white beacon of hope. Everyone is complicated. Everyone seems to be playing different sides. All of this together makes a damn fine old school thriller, the likes of which I wish we saw more of.
You can read my review of the BBC miniseries that State of Play is based on here.
