Way too overrated

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 2000)

American moviemaking is so deceptive these days. Get A-list actors, directors, and some decent, serious plot for a film, and you'll get those academy award nominations rolling in. But great actors don't make a great film. Story is always, and has always been, number one.
I thought this film gives us a slick pacing in its storyline, which is good. But it is emotionally flat throughout the picture. The biggest problem is the theme itself. I don't know about the others who thinks this film is a roller-coaster thriller, but almost everyone now knows that smoking is bad for the health. I felt like I already knew half of the story before I actually walk in to the theatre.
I am biased when I saw this movie, I admit. My bias is that I kept thinking about we all already know of the movie's premise ... about the scumbucket tobacco industry. We all know about the effect of tobacco on our lungs. Still, I was hoping that the film would provide some plot-twists out of an ordinary story. But noooo .... it has to be about a depressed scientist who spends his time just trying to get away from the bad guys, just because he is going to tell the world that tobacco kills. That's all there is to it. True story? Yawn. Al Pacino also looks like he needs to drink some coffee and freshen up - he looked so tired and uninteresting here. Heck, I never thought I would get tired of seeing Al Pacino, but for the first time I did.
This movie, being a true story, showed a lot of promise, but unfortunately ended up being just too straight and simple for my tastes. What is scary in real life doesn't mean that it's scary onscreen (and vice versa). I blame it on the director. Those who thinks that Wigand is psychologically tormented obviously hasn't seen a Hitchcock film!