Starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, Vera Farmiga, David Schwimmer, and Noah Wyle
Written and Directed by Rod Lurie
Written and Directed by Rod Lurie
Loosely based on true events, Washington, D.C., newspaper reporter Rachel Armstrong (Beckinsale) has just published a report revealing the name of a C.I.A. operative -- Erica Van Doren (Farmiga) -- whose findings were ignored by the President. Rachel's hope is that she is a catalyst behind exposing a major problem with the presidential administration who ordered airstrikes on Venezuela despite the fact that Van Doren said the Venezuelan government wasn't really doing anything wrong. Refusing to reveal her source that exposed Van Doren as a C.I.A. agent, Armstrong is held in contempt of court and is sent to prison.
This movie starts out quickly and doesn't really stop moving, which is rather surprising considering it's part-courtroom drama (which tend to plod along sometimes). Director and writer Rod Lurie doesn't really create a bum note in the flick. He creates a great fictional story based around the Valerie Plame incident of the early aughts. While it definitely takes sides in support of the newspaper worker, the movie (which could've been political) doesn't veer that way at all. And the ending...quite the surprise...
Kate Beckinsale is the best I've seen her (though her British accent wasn't quite suppressed), balancing both the gritty newspaper side and the maternal side of her character quite well. There's an incident that happens an hour into the movie that allows Beckinsale to go to another emotional level that I wasn't expecting. Matt Dillon and Noah Wyle are also quite good as dueling attorneys on the case. And Vera Farmiga, who helped make Orphan be a winner (and was so good in The Departed, too), also shines here. She has really become one of my favorite actresses working today, and I think it's time I start looking back over her oeuvre.
It's a shame that the producers -- the Yari Film Group -- went bankrupt prior to this flick's being released and weren't able to push it for Oscars last year the way it deserved to be pushed. In a year of weak Best Picture contenders, this should've at least been in the running.
The RyMickey Rating: A-
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