Excellent suspense drama.

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2003)

You wouldn't think a film about a corporate whistleblower could be as exciting as this one, but Michael Mann did a superb job of keeping this viewer on the edge of his seat for two and a half hours. He doesn't make many films - this one came out four years after his previous one, "Heat" (also excellent) - but the director makes the most of his shots.
First of all, the acting is superb. Russell Crowe is as good in his portrayal of the scientist who blows the tobacco industry's dirty little secret as he was playing Maximus in "Gladiator" - he was nominated for an Oscar as best leading actor (Mann was nominated for director also). Neither of them won, nor did anyone else associated with this film, so maybe the tobacco thugs were getting the final word after all.
Crowe handles this difficult part extremely well. Dr. Wigand is a man tortured with inner doubts. Does he do what he knows is right, expose the tobacco industry for peddling an addictive drug under the guise of an innocent agricultural product, or does he knuckle under to corporate pressure to keep quiet? Complicating his life is a wife who doesn't want to take risks, who resents their lowered economic status, and who eventually deserts him when he needs all the moral support he can get. Cameron Crowe reveals all these inner conflicts in a most believable way and makes his character a hero without the usual props.
Al Pacino plays the "60 Minutes" producer, Lowell Bergman, in his usual fine manner. He's a bit of a crusader, and the film takes some liberties in the truth to build up his character, but he comes off well without being too overbearing. Christopher Plummer is also excellent as Mike Wallace. And the rest of the cast is very good too. But it's a tribute to Crowe's acting skills that he was able to outshine Pacino in a movie that was made for him.
And the best part of this film is that it is, except for some dramatic enhancements, true. Dr. Wigand's testimony was the start of tearing apart the veneer of invulnerability the tobacco industry had managed to create for itself. Since that "60 Minutes" piece, these huge corporations have been forced to pay out enormous sums to litigants harmed by their products, and that is really a sweet thing.