Gripping reality based drama

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2000)

This is a dramatic triumph; a gripping story of the battle between truth and corruption in the sacred halls of mass media news. Based on the true story of Jeffrey Wigand, the research scientist from Brown and Williamson Tobacco who blows the whistle on the industry's attempts to chemically enhance the addictive effects of nicotine, this story grabs you like an anaconda and slowly squeezes you until you are out of breath.
The plot follows Lowell Bergman, a producer for 60 Minutes, as he first stumbles across Wigand (Russell Crowe), convinces him to do an interview and then battles to get the interview aired after Brown and Williamson threatens CBS with a lawsuit. This is reality based drama at its finest. For once, we have a real story that is not rendered dubious by over-dramatization.
Michael Mann directs his third consecutive triumph. He only does one project every three or four years, but what he lacks in frequency he more than delivers in quality. I liked all aspects of his direction, but I was particularly impressed with his use of the camera. Mann has all the various camera techniques honed to perfection, but what is most impressive is his appropriateness in using technique in a scene to maximize effect. If he gives us an extreme close-up or a foreground blur, it is exactly what is needed for maximum impact in the scene. He uses technique to enhance the scene rather than using the scene as an excuse to show off technique, a disease that seems to have become epidemic, especially among hip young directors.
Mann brings us taut drama with a relevant message. He provides well defined characters that hook the audience emotionally. His pace is always appropriate with moments of frenetic action augmented by dramatic buildup and suspense.
The acting in this film was uniformly excellent. Pacino is at his finest in this role. It is clear that he had a real passion for the part unlike his stilted and phony performance in `The Devil's Advocate'. As in `Heat', I believe that Mann has again brought forth Pacino's maximum dynamism and squeezed out of him every bit of his brilliance.
Russell Crowe elevated his game to a new level with this film. Though I found his performance a bit uneven, he brought great power to the role (perhaps a bit too much), and transcended his previous best performance in `LA Confidential' by a wide margin. This was a complex and difficult character, reserved and intellectual yet highly emotional and explosive. This is a combination that doesn't usually come in the same package. Crowe nailed the reserved intellectual part, but was overwrought in the angry scenes, coming across more like an action hero than the incensed nerd he was supposed to be playing. However, this is a picayune criticism of what was on the whole a fabulous performance.
This is one of the better dramas I have seen in a while. I rated it a 9/10. It is well written, well acted and well directed. What more can you ask?